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A TEXT BOOK 

OF 



The Principles of Osteopathy 



BY 

GrDf HULETT, B. S., D. 0. 

Revised at the request of the 
House of Delegates, American Osteopathic Association, 

and the 
Associated Colleges of Osteopathy. 



FIFTH EDITION 
1922 












. v^:>^ 



Copyright 1922 
By The A. T. Still Research Institute 



DEC- 1*22 

^C1A692188 



Preface to the Fifth Edition 

This book has been held in favor by members of the osteopathic 
profession for twenty years. This new edition, the fifth, has been 
prepared for publication at the request of the American Osteopathic 
Association and the Associated Colleges of Osteopathy. The follow- 
ing excerpt from the preface of the first edition indicates the 
author's A^iewpoint: 

"It must be understood at the outset that the work is designed 
primarily for the student who is beginning to study the new method 
of healing. Hence to those who are already practitioners of that 
method the matter contained in the following pages may not seem 
particularly new nor satisfying in the way of suggesting ideas of 
an immediately practical nature. Yet we are not without hop^ 
that even to the latter class there are many points of interest which 
will help to throw light upon some of the vexing problems that 
continually arise in the experience of the busy practitioner. 

' ' Neither should it be assumed that the work is intended to treat 
exhaustively the numerous questions of theory that are associated 
with the science. That is entirely beyond the scope of a work that 
is prepared especially for him who, under the circumstances of a 
comprehensive curriculum of study, crowded into a period of time 
all too short, must of necessity limit his reading in all subjects to 
those texts which give a comparatively brief treatment. This 
work, therefore, is rather a mere outline of the various subjects that 
are most closely related to the fundamentals of the science, with 
suggestions as to the direction further investigation should take. 

"The various subjects outlined and the manner of their treatment 
are the result of the labor of the author, who has been especially 
devoted to the principles of osteopathy during his course as teacher 
for the past three years. In large part the work here presented is 
a revision of lectures delivered before classes in Principles of Os- 
teopathy. 

"The work is divided into volumes I and II, indicating a differ- 
ence in the nature and arrangement of the matter treated. This dif- 
ference lies in the more general nature of the substance of volume I, 

5 



the more specific iu volume II. Certain fundamental propositions 
bearing on the general problems of life, health, and disease are dis- 
cussed in the former, while the deductions drawn therefrom are 
applied specifically in the latter to the various regions of the body." 

Experience has justified the author's method in using the nar- 
rative style. In the book-making the aim has been to combine con- 
venient size, durable and attractive binding, and paper and type 
comfortable to the eye. 

In part, this revision has been based upon some work done by 
Dr. C. M. T. Hulett in 1915. The more definite work has been done 
by the co-operation of the Professors of Principles of Osteopathy 
in the osteopathic colleges. While the amount of work done varies, 
yet some help has been given by each of the colleges named; they 
are arranged in alphabetical order: 

American School of Osteopathy, 

Kirksville, Missouri 

A. T. Still College of Osteopathy and Surgery, 

Kirksville, Missouri 

Chicago College of Osteopathy, 

Chicago, Illinois 

College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, 

Los Angeles, California 

Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery, 

Kansas City, Missouri 

Massachusetts College of Osteopathy, 

Boston, Massachusetts 

Philadelphia College of Osteopathy, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

Education Department, 

THE A. T. STILL RESEARCH INSTITUTE. 

Louisa Burns, Dean, 
October 20, 1922. 



Contents 



CHAPTER I— Introductory Page 
An Art and a Science 12 

CHAPTER n— An Evolution and a Revolution 

Ancient Practices 14 

Age of Hippocrates 14 

Galen 15 

The Middle Ages 16 

Modern Times 17 

CHAPTER III— The Revolution 

Definitions 22 

CHAPTER IV— Some Fundamental Considerations 

Viewpoint of Life 23 

CHAPTER V— Structure and Function 

The Cell Doctrine 26 

CHAPTER VI— Unity of the Body 

CHAPTER VII— Cause of Disease Not in the Cell 

Metabolism 34 

Circulation 35 

Structural Causes 35 

CHAPTER VIII— Man a Machine 

The Body a Physical Mechanism 37 

A Chemical Laboratory 38 

CHAPTER IX— The Energy of the Body 

Nature of Energy 43 

Chemical Action 44 

Molecular Relations 45 

Gravitation 45 

Friction 46 

Heat 46 

Light 47 

Electricity 48 

Nerve Energy 49 

Energy Balance 49 

Balance Sheet of Energy for Man at Light Work 49 

Summary 50 

CHAPTER X— Body Fuel 

Water 53 

Proteids 53 

Metabolism 54 

Reserves 55 

Diet 56 

Palatability and Idiosyncrasy 57 

Dietetic Habits 58 

Eating in Disease 59 

7 



CHAPTER XI— A Self-Sufficient Machine Page 

In Health 60 

In Disease 61 

Starvation 62 

Structural Relations 63 

CHAPTER XII— The Tendency to the Normal 

What is Normal? ;. 65 

Heredity 66 

Variation ^1 

Adaptation 68 

CHAPTER XIII— The Etiology of Disease 

Abnormal Structural Conditions 70 

Gross Lesions 70 

Lesions of Less Degree 71 

CHAPTER XIV— Disease Maintained by Structure 

CHAPTER XV— The Lesion 

The Causes of Lesions.. 78 

Mechanical 79 

Thermal 79 

Internal Causes 80 

CHAPTER XVI— Maintenance of the Lesion 

CHAPTER XVII— Media Through which Lesions Produce Disease 

CHAPTER XVIII— Varying Effects of Lesions 

Adaptation 88 

Varying Symptoms 89 

Reflex Effects 90 

CHAPTER XIX— Abuse of Function 

Time Relations 92 

Intensity 93 

Diminished Functions 93 

Perversions 94 

CHAPTER XX— Predisposing and Exciting Causes of Disease 

CHAPTER XXI— The Germ Theory of Disease 

Local Effects.. 99 

Constitutional Effects 99 

Immunity 100 

CHAPTER XXII— Methods of Protection Against Bacteria 
CHAPTER XXIII— The Diagnosis of Disease 

Fever 107 

Digestive Reactions 108 

Pulmonary Reactions.—. 109 

Glycosuria 109 

Inflammation 110 

8 



CHAPTER XXIV— Methods of Examination Pa^-c 

Palpation 112 

Percussion 113 

Auscultation 113 

Mensuration 113 

Instruments 114 

CHAPTER XXV— The Diagonsis of Lesions 

Examination 115 

Perversion of Function 116 

Attitude 116 

Landmarks 117 

Sensory Perversions 117 

CHAPTER XXVI— Pain in Lesioned Areas 

Referred Pain 119 

Anatomical Relations 120 

Central Origin of Pain 121 

Hypersensitive Areas 122 

CHAPTER XXVII— Muscular Changes in Lesioned Areas 

Amplitude 124 

Temperature Changes 125 

CHAPTER XXVIII— The Treatment of Disease 

Prophylaxis and Therapeutics 127 

Lesion in Prophylaxis 129 

Corrective Versus Palliative Treatment 130 

CHAPTER XXIX— Adjustment of Osseous Lesions 

Exaggeration 133 

Rotation 134 

Pressure 134 

CHAPTER XXX— Adjustment of Muscular Lesions 

Relaxation for Diagnosis 136 

Relaxation as Preliminary to Treatment 137 

Relaxation of Primary Lesions..— 137 

Methods 138 

Pressure 139 

Stretching 139 

Approximation 140 

CHAPTER XXXI— Treatment of Other Lesions 

Tumors 142 

Connective Tissue Lesions 142 

CHAPTER XXXII— Time Required 

Frequency of Treatment 146 

Length of Treatment 147 

CHAPTER XXXIII— Stimulation and Inhibition 

CHAPTER XXXIV— Difficulties of Direct Control 

CHAPTER XXXV— Use and Abuse of Direct Control 

Indications for Attempts at Direct Control 159 

CHAPTER XXXVI— Treatment of Disease Caused by Abuse 

CHAPTER XXXVII— Osteopathy and Cell Life 

CHAPTER XXXVIII— Cells of Multicellular Organisms 

CHAPTER XXXIX— Cell Response to Stimulation 

9 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

A statement of the principles wliich underlie the science of 
osteopathy must, in the nature of things, be a very incomplete one. 
No one recognizes the fact more thoroughly than does the prac- 
titioner himself when he is compelled to apply theoretical proposi- 
tions to actual cases. Nor should he be surprised at the discovery. 
If, as we continually reiterate, osteopathy is a system built upon the 
facts of anatomy and physiology, then the foundation must be an 
absolute and knowable one before we may presume to pronounce 
the building in any sense complete. Unfortunately for the im- 
mediate completion of the building, the foundation itself is un- 
finished, and for an indefinite period of time must remain so. It is 
a perennially recurring surprise to the student of the biological 
sciences, to learn that in comparison with what is yet to be deter- 
mined, the total of demonstrable fact relating to these sciences is 
relatively so small. When the student, in taking up the study of 
osteopathy, is told that the osteopath is successful by virtue of his 
complete knowledge of anatomy and physiology, he glories in the 
assertion. But when he learns how meager is the equipment of the 
most expert, he is likely to be disappointed. True, in anatomy we 
are comparatively well grounded, but our knowledge of physiology 
and its related sciences is extremely unsatisfactory and must remain 
so for long. Why need we then apologize for an incomplete state- 
ment of the principles of osteopathy? We are not alone in this. 
The handicap of limited knowledge applies equally to all therapeutic 
systems. Indeed osteopathy can claim an advantage in the use of 
what is known, from its sole possession and recognition of the correct 
principles of interpretation and application of that knowledge. But 
another fact is very apparent. Dr. Still himself has repeatedly 
asserted that osteopathy is yet in its infancy. Why pretend then 
that there be any possibility of presenting it in the garb of maturity? 
Because of its youth, we must be content with a proper modesty of 
statement. It is unfortunate that in the rapid growth of the system 
and in the increase in number of its adherents, sufficient time has not 
been given to a careful analysis and record of cases which tend to 

11 



12 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

substantiate the fundamental propositions ; and since only an infinite 
number of observed instances will satisfy the demands of inexorable 
logic, the necessary data have not yet been collected to warrant 
unqualified statement. A careful presentation of certain very gen- 
eral but unequivocal propositions, supplemented by numerous pro- 
visional ones, is the duty of him who would formulate a "plan and 
specificartion, " upon which the practitioner is to build his super- 
structure. 

An Art and a Science 

It is further necessary to make a fairly clear distinction between 
principles and practice. It is a peculiar characteristic of the average 
beginner to long for the opportunity to observe and experiment upon 
cases. He has imbibed the idea that osteopathy consists essentially 
in the performance of certain movements upon the patient. But it 
is necessary to emphasize that before such movement shall be intelli- 
gently applied, certain fundamental facts are essential; and it is in 
the development of these required facts that the principles of osteop- 
athy consists. Dr. Still has repeatedly emphasized that a '"plan and 
specification" is necessary before intelligent work can be done. 
There must be in the mind of the student a "living picture," not 
only of the form and feature but also of the function, the tendencies 
toward and away from the line marked out by heredity, and every 
phase and fact that may be known regarding the complete life of 
the individual. It is true no such picture was held by the pioneer in 
earlier times. It is true that osteopathy, like all other sciences had 
its beginning as an art. It is no discredit to the science that the art 
occupies first place in point of time. Musicians and poets were born 
and the art of music and poetry existed long before the laws of 
harmony and meter were known. But it is significant that there are 
few great poets or musicians who are ignorant of the laws under- 
lying their art. The farmer may be able to produce a crop with no 
knowledge whatever of the chemistry of soils or the laws of plant 
growth, but the present development of agriculture could never have 
been reached had not such laws been discovered and formulated. 
The school teacher may be able to develop the minds of the young 
and yet be ignorant of pedagogics, but he can never occupy first 
place. Osteopathy is no exception to this rule. Dr. Still mentions 
the fact that while yet a boy, a case of headache was aborted by 



INTRODUCTORY 13 

resting his suboccipital region within a rope swing.' That was the 
art of osteopathy. Similar cases and observation of other facts 
accumulated until an inkling was obtained of a law underlying the 
several facts. The recognition of that law and the application of it 
to still further cases constituted the beginning of the science. The 
accumulation and systematization of facts, even though many facts 
remained unexplained, justified the presentation of a working 
hypothesis. It is the discussion of this hypothesis and the facts 
substantiating it, the taking it as far as may be from the realm of 
theory into the realm of demonstration, that constitutes tlie prin- 
ciples of osteopathy. The application of the principles of specific 
cases of disease constitutes the practice of osteopathy. 

A system of healing cannot properly be separated from a philos- 
ophy of life. This is true by virtue of the involved nature of disease. 
We may prate of pure science and declare that we will accept 
nothing not susceptible of demonstration, and that a system of 
healing must depend for its permanency upon pure facts of observa- 
tion. We may insist that laboratory knowledge is the only brand 
that will be permitted to enter the sacred field of science. And yet 
the fact remains that the details of every branch of learning have 
been wrought out and established through the application of pre- 
conceived theories based upon comparatively few facts. The begin- 
ning of knowledge comes by induction but its completion is accom- 
plished only by deduction. A theory of life is at the basis of the 
osteopathic science. The proof that it is a law rather than a theory 
is the problem of the osteopathic reasoner and practitioner. That 
proof must of necessity require time, and inasmuch as confirmative 
evidence is daily accumulated, let no one be discouraged. 



^Still: Autobiography. 



CHAPTER II 

AN EVOLUTION AND A REVOLUTION 

• What is that philosophy"? It is both an evolution and a revolu- 
tion. To make the situation clear it is necessary to look back into 
history and trace out so far as may be possible the evolutionary 
outcroppings that have appeared from time to time, culminating 
finally in a condition that has made possible the revolution inaugu- 
rated by Dr. Still. If we turn to antiquity we find an abundance 
of philosophy with little of fact. Remedial agencies were employed 
with little regard to the nature or the manifestations of the disease ; 
which is not to be wondered at, because of the paucity of knowledge 
regarding the body either in a condition of health or of disease. 

Ancient Practices 

Is is true the records would indicate that in the time of the 
Ptolemies, post-mortems were held ; the ancient Brahmins were aware 
of the variations in the specific gravity of the urine dependent upon 
diseased conditions, and practiced a crude form of urinalysis ; in some 
respects the remedial measures of that day may be considered a lost 
art, for the legends have it that measures were known, the use of 
which would prevent the pitting of smallpox, and antidotes effica- 
cious for the most venomous of snake poisons were compounded. The 
Chinese recognized the diagnostic value of changing conditions of 
the pulse, though the connection between the condition observed and 
the remedy employed is unexplained. The Hebrews, Avhile recogniz- 
ing certain fundamental facts in regard to the ethical relations 
existing between man and man, and the moral relations between man 
and his Creator, gave to the world little of value in the way of treat- 
ment of individual body conditions. The world is, however, indebted 
to that race for the most elaborate system of hygiene that has been 
devised, some of the provisions of which might well be incorporated 
in modern hygienic and sanitary regulations. 

Age of Hippocrates 

Until the era of Hippocrates little of a permanent nature was 
^iven to the world that would assist in solving the problems of dis- 

14 



AN EVOLUTION AND A REVOLUTION 15 

ease and death. In Hippocrates (460—377 B. C.) the medical world 
recognizes its first great figure, not so great by virtue of any great 
depth of reasoning, but because of his ability to observe, and further, 
by his recognition of the necessity for recording his observations. 
Hence in the Hippocratic collection of writings is found a vast field 
covered, embracing as it does every branch of the healing art, both 
of prophylaxis and therapeutics. Hippocrates further deserves the 
title, ''Father of Medicine," because of his work in gathering to- 
gether not only his own observations, but also those of his contem- 
poraries and his predecessors which he considered worthy. It must 
be noted, however, that the value of the observations of Hippocrates 
lies in their relation to the symptoms rather than in the explanations 
or the treatment of disease. He added to the knowledge of effects 
but not to the knowledge of cause or its removal. The philosophers, 
Aristotle and Plato, with their contemporaries, dealt largely with 
speculation and little with experimental determination. It is inter- 
esting to note that in their time arose the pneuma theory, or the 
theory of the spirits, which in effect was the precursor of Priestly 's 
demonstration a thousand years later, of the presence of oxygen in 
the air and of the important role that element plays in all life 
processes. The same era produced Empedocles and Heraclitus, who 
with their theories of evolution and the struggle for existence, re- 
spectively, anticipated Darwin and his followers. 

Galen 

While the modern biological investigator has reverence for the 
name and fame of Hippocrates, he recognizes in the Roman anat- 
omist Galen (131 — 201 A. D.) the first investigator endowed with 
the so called scientific spirit. That spirit was manifested in experi- 
mental methods of study which were careful for that age of the 
world. As an anatomist and physiologist, Galen was able to disprove 
some of the contentions of the Hippocratic school as well as to add 
a considerable number of important facts to existing knowledge by 
dissections and vivisections. That Galen's influence was profound 
and permanent is evidenced from the fact that certain of his classifi- 
cations are still employed, and that for fourteen centuries his word 
was law. In spite of his contribution to biological knowledge Galen 
added in a direct way not a whit to the understanding of the cause 
or the treatment of disease. 



16 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

The Middle Ages 

From the time of Galen throughout the Middle Ages up to the 
fifteenth century, little advance was made in any of the sciences 
related to the healing art. Through the schools of France, Italy, 
and Spain, fact and tradition were preserved unmodified. All 
knowledge centered in the records of Galen until, with the general 
revival of learning individuals once more began to investigate and 
reason for themselves. A striking character arose early in the 
sixteenth century. Disputant, philosopher, mystic and egoist, 
Paracelsus (1493 — 1541) proclaimed to the world a profound con- 
tempt for the learning of the past as recorded in books, insisted that 
knowledge must be gained subjectively, and formulated a theory of 
nature. Three of his affirmations should be emphasized, first, all 
nature is a unit; second, nature is never complete, but forever be- 
coming ; third, nature is a macrocosm, man a microcosm. That these 
three ideas have become part and parcel of modern thought, is a 
proposition requiring little substantiation. The close relation that 
they bear to the osteopathic doctrine becomes more and more ap- 
parent with further study. From this time forward the path of 
history is marked with the names of individuals who stand out 
prominently because of added biological facts or demonstrable 
theorems. Harvey (1578 — 1657) gave the proofs of a complete 
circulation and the dictum, in its essentials never yet refuted, omne 
vivum ex ovo, the former of which had been suggested by Galen and 
by others less noted. We need hardly dwell upon the importance of 
both of these facts to the osteopath. Van Helmont (1577 — 1644) 
a follower of Paracelsus, emphasized the interrelations between 
matter and energy,' and suggested the doctrine of ferments as ex- 
plaining the digestive processes. The philosopher, Descartes 
(1596 — 1650), while emphasizing certain and numerous ideas of a 
general nature regarding matter and mind, gave rise to one concept 
that is of the utmost significance to the osteopath. The idea that 
man is a machine and that the operation of his organism is dependent 
upon mechanical laws, is a view fundamental to osteopathic reason- 
ing, and to Descartes Ave are under obligations for emphatic state- 
ment to that effect. Growing out of this conception arose the 
iatro-mechanical school, whose chief advocates, Borelli (16Q8 — 1679) 
and Marey of our own time, have made the application chiefly to the 
svstems of animal movement ; while a rival school, the iatro-chemical. 



AN EVOLUTION AND A RJiVOI.L'TION 17 

iounded by Sylvius, insisted on the ai)[)lication of chemical prin- 
ciples as explanatory of the various functions. 

At this stage in the historical development an immense impetus 
Avas given to the investigation of the problems of life by the inven- 
tion of the compound microscope whereby not only the cellular the- 
ory of living structure was formulated, but also the discovery was 
made of microscopic forms of life. This was followed first by the 
interminable discussion of spontaneous generation and later gave 
birth to the germ theory of disease, a theory which has profoundly 
modified medical thought and practice during the closing years of 
the nineteenth century. In the latter half of the seventeenth 
century the English physician, Thomas Sydenham, emphasized 
another fact which is basic to osteopathic theory. He made emphatic 
claims for the healing power of nature and thereby anticipated the 
contentions of all those of later time who insist that it is nature 
who cures and not the physician. Priestly, in the latter half of 
the eighteenth century, by his discovery of the element oxygen was 
able to replace in substantial form the pneuma of the early 
philosophers, which, entering the body through the breath gave 
life to its tissues. Haller (1708 — 1777), following Grlisson in the 
investigation of the property of irritability, enlarged upon the 
conception of a vital force underlying all life phenomena and 
independent of known chemical and physical laws — a conception 
which still commands the adherence of a respectable number of 
scientists, and which is yet perhaps neither susceptible of proof 
nor disproof. The relation existing between physiological activity 
and electricity has been the subject of study since Galvani (1737 — 
1798) proved the generation of electric currents by living tissues, 
and the recently discovered facts of physical chemistry regarding 
the electrical nature of certain chemical reactions bid fair to throw 
further light upon the part played by electric energy in the body 
organism. 

Modern Times 

During the nineteenth century a fcAv figures stand out strongly 
in the further development of biology. In special prominence is 
noted the tendency of all modern investigators to an objective 
study, leaving severely alone, too severely perhaps, all matters of 
a speculative nature. Bichat (1801) remade the science of anatomy 



18 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

and showed that disease had its seat in the constituent tissues 
and not in the organs as such. Hahnemann (1775 — 1843), with 
his "law of similars" and his insistence on smaller dosages, has 
most profoundly modified the practice of heroic drugging which 
had reached an alarming stage. Virchow (1821 — 1902), with his 
investigation into the pathology of cells, has cleared up many of 
the mysteries associated with pathologic conditions, incidentally 
throwing light upon the general cell doctrine, although his views 
and those of his followers can but be regarded as extreme and in 
some respects impossible. Ling (1776 — 1839), by virtue of his 
systematization of the various methods of movement cure, gave an 
impetus to the study of the physiological effects of mechanical 
stimuli, a fact which has led to no little confusion on the part of 
both the laity and profession, in regard to the distinction between 
these various methods and that of osteopathic practice. Hilton, the 
English surgeon, has emphasized Sydenham's contention relating 
to the healing power of nature, in its surgical aspects, and has 
served to show — innocently enough — the essential identity in the 
standpoint of osteopathy and conservative surgery. Pasteur and 
Koch and Klebs and a host of others, through their investigations 
into the processes of fermentation in and out of the body, together 
with the demonstration of the close relationship between disease 
and micro-organisms, have greatly added to our knowledge of the 
pathological changes taking place in many diseases. Modern 
biologists have added a vast amount of data to the sum of knowledge 
accumulated in the past, and to them the members of all schools 
of healing are greatly indebted. In so far as that knowledge has 
been applied in explaining the cause of disease and suggesting its 
treatment there is a pitiable poverty. The ground work for a 
rational system was laid. The inauguration of that system remained 
for a leader. The use of drugs, which had come to occupy first 
place among the healing agencies, was found sadly wanting. As 
early as the first half of the last century, the tendency of the later 
time was stated by Krukenberg, a German physician, in these words 
as quoted by Park: "Physicians should be filled with a pious 
reverence toward nature; the organism is a whole and must be 
contemplated in this sense; medical art is undoubtedly capable of 
decisive action, but let us not mistake that in many cases its activity 
is quite superfluous, in very many null and inadequate, and in many 



AN EVOLUTION AND A REVOLUTION 19 

injurious." That there has been a remarkable turning away from 
(Jrugs in the last half century is evidenced from numerous facts. 
Note the rise of Christian science and the numerous other cults 
whose systems are based on the relation between mind and body, 
which number their adherents by the millions and whose reputed 
cures emphasize Krukenberg's statement that in many cases medical 
art is superfluous, and substantiates Sydenham's declaration that 
the healing power resides in nature; electrotherapy for a time 
flourished and still has its enthusiastic admirers; hydrotherapy has 
become an adjunct of practically all systems, the use of which has 
been emphasized out of proportion to the possibility of its abuse; 
the development of serotheraphy co-existent with the development 
of a knowledge of toxins produced by pathogenic bacteria has had 
far reaching results ; the known facts relating to internal secretions, 
together with the observation of pathologic conditions resulting 
from the absence of some organ, usually a ductless gland, has led to 
the rise of organotherapy, and has served to distinguish between 
organic food elements and inorganic chemical substances. The rise 
of these various systems, all indicating the desertion of the drug 
has not been dependent upon a realization by the physician alone 
of the inadequacy of the drug, but equally upon that realization 
by the thinking laity. The time was ripe for a revolution in the 
conception of cause and treatment of disease. 



CHAPTER III 

THE EEVOLUTION 

It was stated that in osteopathy not only was there an evolution 
but there was a revolution. Heretofore the physician had confined 
his attention to the appearances in disease, which in truth was all 
that he could do inasmuch as the cause remained unknown. Every 
sj^stem of treatment thus far developed had been one designed 
primarily to combat effects. It remained for Dr. Still to determine 
the fundamental cause of all disease and to inaugurate a system 
of treatment based upon that cause. What constitutes the distinc- 
tive feature of this revolution in the concept of cause and the 
method of treatment of disease? All systems and sciences, whether 
related to healing or other aspect of human endeavor, are a result 
of growth. Growth presupposes a beginning less mature than the 
end. Hence it were presumption at the present time to attempt to 
set definite limits to the science of osteopathy. Professor Ladd 
of Yale states a very important fact when he says that the proper 
definition of a science is one of the latest and most difficult achieve- 
ments of that science. Recognizing the extreme youth of osteopathy 
we must be content with only a provisional setting of limitations 
in any attempt at a statement of its constituent elements. Admitting 
this to be the case, yet it is not deemed presumptuous to attempt 
to formulate in a concise manner the essential ideas in the form of 
what may be called a definition. We certainly cannot assent to 
the proposition that no statement of principles shall be given definite 
form because we may have reason at a later time to retreat. A 
policy of negation is as destructive to all progress in science as it 
is in politics. If the system of osteopathy is to be advanced, if 
it is to be established upon demonstrable law, if it is to be relegated 
to the oblivion of error it will be developed in the best possible 
manner by giving it definite direction and force through the formu- 
lation of a specific program based upon a definite working 
hypothesis. From time to time as further discovery of truth shall 
suggest, that program or hypothesis may be modified. It is signifi- 
cant that thus far in the history of its development no fact has 
been demonstrated that has modified in any essential way or 

20 



THE REVOLUTION 21 

degree the primal osteopathic concept. If care be taken to analyze 
the apparently contradictory conditions which have been reported 
we believe that it will be found that instead of modifying the 
original concept, they but confirm and make it the more impreg- 
nable. 

It is needless to say that a single word cannot indicate in any 
comprehensive way the nature of the system. Hence no attempt is 
made to explain in any apologetic or compromising terms why the 
word osteopathy came to us. It is insisted, however, that as com- 
pared to the terminology of other systems the word osteopathy is 
much more representative of the system and is far superior to any 
other name that has been suggested. The legal definition given to 
the system by statutes refers to it as a ''system, method, or science 
of healing." That it is systematic and methodical is recognized 
at a glance. The more pertinent inquiry remains, is it a science? 
That it is not a completed science has already by inference been 
emphasized. That it embraces all the elements of a science is 
affirmed. The definitions that have been given for the word science 
have been many and various. Succinctly, systematized truth may 
.^erve the purpose as well as many of a more pretentious character. 
In so far as the facts that have been gathered when arranged in 
definite logical order tend to support a definite hypothesis, we have 
a science. In so far as the conditions in disease are shown to depend 
in definite ways upon certain properties of the structural arrange- 
ments, thereby occupying the relation of cause and effect, we have 
the essentials of a science. Finally, inasmuch as anatomy and 
physiology are sciences, osteopathy, which is but the application 
of these two toward the cure of disease, must partake also of the 
nature of a science. True, there are many things in the osteopathic 
system yet to be recognized and classified, but that fact does not in 
any way impair its validity as a science. 

Not touching upon the details that yet remain to be worked out, 
a technical definition must suggest a theory of the cause, and the 
treatment, of disease. In regard to the latter it must embrace not 
only therapeutics but prophylaxis as well. For medicine in the 
broad use of that term must include, in addition to measures em- 
ployed to assist the body in recovering its equilibrium, also those 
designed to assist the organism in maintaining that equilibrium. 
Indeed the latter is logically of far greater importance, but because 



22 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

of an unfortunate tendency on the part of human nature to pro- 
crastination the former will of necessity demand the most of the 
physician's labor. In order that the definition shall include essen- 
tials and provide a basis of support the following propositions must 
be either directly or by inference included: 

1. Cure is the prerogative of the organism. 

2. Functional disorders will be self -adjusted except where com- 
plicated with or dependent on structural disorders which are beyond 
the limits of self-adjustment. 

3. Removal of structural disorders constitutes the treatment. 

In accordance with these provisions the author has elsewhere 
suggested the following definition of the distinctive features of 
osteopathy: A system of therapeutics which, recognizing that the 
maintenance and restoration of normal function are alike dependent 
on a force inherent in protoplasm, and that function perverted 
beyond the limits of self-adjustment, is dependent on a condition 
of structure perverted beyond those limits, attempts the reestablish- 
ment of normal function by manipulative measures designed to 
render to the organism such aid as will enable it to overcome or 
adapt itself to the disturbed structure.^ The elaboration of the 
various provisions in this definition will appear as the subject is 
further developed in the following chapters. 

The definition offered by Dr. C. B. Atzen and approved by the 
American Osteopathic Association, June 29, 1919, is as follows: 
*' Osteopathy is that system of the healing art which places the 
chief emphasis upon the structural integrity of the body mechanism 
as being the most important single factor in maintaining the well- 
being of the organism in health or disease." 



^Journal of The American Osteopathic Association, May, 1902. 



CHAPTER IV 

SOME FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 

Viewpoint of Life 

In another connection it was stated that a system of healing 
cannot be separated from a philosophy of life. As introductory to 
a further study of the osteopathic doctrine it is necessary to consider 
in brief a few aspects of the life problem. Not that it is possible 
to give an accurate definition of life; for it is obvious that no such 
definition can be given of a thing, the essential nature of which is 
unknown. For we know not what life is; we are only acquainted 
in part with the substance with which life is associated and with 
a few of its manifestations. We know that in one sense life is a 
property of a certain kind of molecule but the explanation of the 
property and how it is associated with the molecule is not forth- 
coming. We know that life is inherent in this certain kind of 
molecule. Dr. Still has stated that life is an individualized principle 
of nature. A part of the universal life has become individualized 
in an aggregation of protoplasmic molecules. How it became thus 
individualized, and at death again becomes merged into the uni- 
versal life, is yet, and in all likelihood will always remain, a mystery. 
The materialist hopes sometime to be able to explain life in terms 
of physics and chemistry. While it is true that a large number 
of functions formerly considered vital, in the sense of being out of 
the realm of physics and chemistry, have in more recent years 
been in their gross appearances satisfactorily explained on purely 
physical or chemical laws, yet a vast number of much more difficult 
functions as well as the finer details of every function remain 
entirely beyond physical or chemical explanation. 

While it is thus not possible to accept the materialist's concep- 
tion of living matter yet recognition must be made of the funda- 
mental importance of chemical and physical law as a basis for 
functioning. The chemical nature of protoplasm is significant; 
composed of a dozen or more of the known elements most of which 
are of low atomic weight, we find a very complex molecule. If 
paramount importance can be assigned to any single element, nitro- 

23 



24 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

gen could reasonably be placed first. That element is characteristic 
of living material and is fundamental in giving to the complex 
molecule some of its own peculiarities. Nitrogen unites with a suffi- 
ciently large number of other elements but in comparatively loose 
combinations, separating readily to form new associations. It is in 
this respect that nitrogen is of prime importance to the living mole- 
cule. The most striking characteristic of living tissue is its tendency 
tc continuous change not only of a physical but also of a chemical 
nature. The response to a stimulus is dependent upon this readiness 
and since life may be considered in large part a response to stimuli 
the necessity for the ability to change becomes apparent. In this 
connection Herbert Spencer's classical definition of life is illuminat- 
ing : The continuous adjustment of internal relations to external re- 
lations. As there will be occasion to refer repeatedly to the fact of 
adjustment this conception of life should be borne in mind. Every 
change in the environment of the organism constitutes a stimulus of 
greater or less intensity upon that organism. The continuous proper 
response to these stimuli represents a normal condition of the 
organism; a failure to respond, or a response too intense or in- 
sufficient is evidence of and further cause for a disease condition. 
In the sense of a continuous response to continuous stimuli the 
organism constitutes what Spencer calls a moving equilibrium. 
When that equilibrium becomes disturbed by too intense or too 
prolonged stimuli disease results, while in the continuous adjustment 
to circumstances is seen the normal condition of the living organism. 

Considering life, then, in certain of its manifestations, it is 
observed that the law of change is a law of living matter as rep- 
resented in man. The study of those changes and the determination 
of methods to assist the organism in its response to normal stimuli 
and in its resistance to abnormal stimuli, constitutes the life problem 
of the physician. 



CHAPTER V 

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION 

In this continuous adjustment dlependent on change in the 
physical and chemical relations of the molecule above referred to it 
IS to be noted that both structure and function are concerned. 
Discussions are rife regarding the relative position of structure and 
function in the development of an individual or of a race. It is 
not advisable to enter into the argument except to indicate that 
for all practical purposes the two develop co-ordinately. That 
structure changes function in countless cases must be admitted. 
This fact is fundamental in osteopathic theory, according to which 
most diseases are either caused or maintained by structural condi- 
tions interfering with function. On the other hand it is equally 
certain that in numerous cases there is evidence of the modifying 
influence of function on structure. 

The doctrine that makes the cell the fundamental biological unit, 
and the physiology of the body but the physiology of the cell, is 
insufficient to explain all the phenomena of the complex, organized, 
living being. The cell represents one expression of life which is 
inherent in the common structural basis, protoplasm. There is an 
organizing force that lies back of all structure whether the latter 
be composed of cells, intercellular substance, or of syncytia. That 
force is unknown but it represents an action, an energy, a function. 
In this sense reasoning is justified in insisting that function is a 
cause of structure. This assertion, however, may be followed by 
the equally obvious statement that before that organizing force 
can express itself in any substantial way it must have a structural 
basis. That structural basis is protoplasm. From this standpoint 
structure governs function. Throughout the growing period of the 
individual, function is continually changing structure. Marey calls 
attention to the development of grooves and depressions in the 
growing bone from the continuous functional activity of the grow- 
ing muscle and other soft tissues. As the individual uses to excess 
one group of muscles, the prominences to which the muscles are 
attachefd are correspondingly increased. The muscle itself, as in the 

25 



26 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

case of the heart in certain valvular disorders, becomes remarkably 
hypertrophied. A disorder of the stomach, through the increase of 
nerve impulses that pass from it, initiates changes which result in 
perversions of form, more noticeable in the case of muscle tissue. 
All of these are instances of the power of function to modify struc- 
ture. In large part it will be noted that the functioning energy 
only modifies the structure in the process of growth, compensation, 
or any condition where a definite purposeful action seems necessary. 
As soon as the functional activity or the energizing force has 
brought forth and builded its own instrument of manifestation, 
observation of the human body, that of the lower animal, and to 
some extent, plant life, all show that function then becomes subject 
to the mechanical conditions of the structure and form. Thence on, 
more noticeably than during the previous period of growth or com- 
pensation, structure becomes modified only inappreciably and 
gradually by function. The more inert structure once formed — 
made ready for the indwelling of the animating force — if disturbed 
through various forces acting upon it, is in considerable part unable 
to adjust itself immediately, with the result that the function must 
suffer and continue so to do until the structural condition be over- 
come with or without the aid of some extraneous factor. Therein 
lies the essence of the whole argument. Admitting that function 
can modify the structure, it can much more readily modify itself 
and hence is practically self-adjusting. On the other hand, structure 
is only passively self-adjustive and hence will likely remain in its 
abnormal condition until some external force it brought to bear. 
Here lies the work for the physician. Structure is disturbed. 
Function must of necessity suffer as a result, and symptoms of 
disease follow. The physician can attempt to change either function 
or structure. Which shall it be? Function being self-adjusting, 
and dependent on structure needs no artificial aid. Structure, being 
more helpless so far as self-adjustment is concerned, and being 
directly responsible for maintenance of the perverted function, de- 
mands the attention of the physician. His work in assisting in 
structural adjustment is the only external or artificial factor that is 
justified. 

The Cell Doctrine 
From the middle of the seventeenth century, when Schleiden 
and Schwann discovered in the case of plants and animals respec- 



STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION 27 

tively that living material is composed of innumerable microscopic 
parts having a more or less definite shape, up to the present decade, 
the cell doctrine has been growing in importance as one of the 
great facts of biology. When the nature of the cell was first deter- 
mined and the so called essential elements had been differentiated 
from the non-essential, it was believed that a long step had been 
taken toward the solution of many of the life problems. As the 
investigator learned that each of these individual divisions had a 
more or less distinct life of its own, the attention of the physiologist 
was turned from a consideration of the action of cell groups to that 
of the individual cell, until in the literature of to-day the statement 
is constantly reiterated that the problem of physiology is the 
problem of the cell. Virchow, in his monumental work on the cell 
structure with special reference to its pathology, has emphasized 
more than any one man the individuality of the cell and the 
fundamental necessity for normal cell life in order that body 
activity as a Avhole shall be normal. His coworkers and followers 
have assisted very materially in definitely showing the great part 
played by the cell in the activity of every living thing. Yet while 
all this is true it must be insisted that the problem of physiology 
can never be solved by the rule of the cell, and that for the reason 
that the cell is not the fundamental element nor the essential fact 
in living tissue. Within later years the extreme views have been 
modified and modern investigators are searching for the demonstra- 
tion of what may provisionally be called the ante-cellular elements. 
That such exist there can be little question. That is, more simple 
elements which have the fundamental life faculties, lie back of the 
cell and are responsible for the cell. If it were asked what is the 
simplest possible conception of life in its manifestation, it could 
logically be insisted that protoplasm plus an organizing force dwell- 
ing within that protoplasm constitutes the simplest conceiveable 
life condition. This conception is not that of the cell doctrine as 
commonly understood. The structural conditions necessary in the 
cellular arrangement are but one of the expressions of the life and 
hence are but incidental. "All parts of the cell are but the local 
differentiation of a common structural basis. "^ The cytoplasm is 
one specialization, the nucleoplasm is another, and the cell wall is 
a third of the specializations of this structural basis. It is not 



^Wilson: The Cell in Development and Inheritance. 



28 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

enough to say that there must be the combination of nucleus and 
cytoplasm in order that life may be manifested. It is a common 
statement that the nucleus is necessary and hence any protoplasm 
devoid of a nucleus cannot represent the fundamental unit. But 
cytoplasm does live and does manifest life after having been separ- 
ated from all connection with nucleoplasm. It shows amoeboid 
movement, it is irritable, it flows about nutrient substances and 
digests them. Hence life is still present and without question there 
are present more elementary biological units. To the objection that 
the cytoplasm very soon dies, and under no circumstances can 
reproduce itself, it may be replied that the same is true of any of 
the complete cells of multicellular man when they have become 
separate. Many cells live in which no nucleus is demonstrable. And 
yet these organisms are eminently alive. They move and select 
or reject food substances and reproduce their kind. The difference 
between these and the cellular organisms, so far as life itself is 
concerned, is one only of degree and complexity, not of kind. 



CHAPTER VI 

UNITY OF THE BODY 

With modern methods of research our knowledge of the actual 
structural conditions of the human body has been considerably 
increased and in large part corrected. One of the more striking 
of the observations which bear directly upon the subject in hand, 
has reference to the fact that the body is by no means entirely 
made up of cellular structure. It has long been known that in 
the case of plants many of their cells were structurally con- 
tinuous. The same fact has been shown to be true in the case of 
animals. In the developing ova of fishes it has been found that the 
cells as they were formed were not separated but still maintained 
the continuity of their protoplasm. The same is true with reference 
to the ovarian cells of certain mammals. In the higher animals, 
including man, many epithelial cells on close inspection show the 
presence of protoplasmic bridges. Cartilaginous and many other 
forms of connective tissue cells are connected through protoplasmic 
extensions. In the case of the muscle cells of the heart is seen a 
typical condition. There the cells are markedly branching and the 
branches are continuous one with another. This is of fundamental 
interest, as throwing light upon the peculiar properties of the 
cardiac muscle. All investigators have noted that the contraction 
of the heart takes the form of a wave passing downward from the 
sinus venosus to the apex. It was formerly assumed that this wave 
was propagated from auricle to ventricle through the medium of 
nerve connection. This is now believed to be erroneous, since the 
nerve tissue can be rendered ineffective while the propagation of 
the wave remains unaltered. What is the explanation? Older 
anatomists taught that there was no muscular connection between 
auricle and ventricle. This, according to Gaskell, has been dis- 
proved and it is now known that the propagation of the contraction 
wave from auricle to ventricle may take place through the continuity 
of muscle protoplasm or via the atrio-ventricular or muscle bundle 
of His. While the continuous nature of cardiac muscle cells has thus 
been recognized it is only within more recent years that proof was 
given for a similar though less marked condition in the case of most 

29 



30 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

involuntary muscle tissue. This becomes of special interest because 
of the fact that a contraction wave started at one end of the intes- 
tinal canal passes through a greater or less extent of the tract 
without further stimulus. Therein further lies the suggestion of an 
explanation of the Traube-Hering curves which are produced by 
the rhythmic action of the arterial walls and which are entirely 
independent of the pulse. 

From the above considerations it would seem that the conception 
of the human body as a syncytium is not inappropriate, and that 
there is justification for the conclusion stated by Meyer that both 
the plant and the animal individual are continuous masses of proto- 
plasm in which the cytoplasmic substance forms a morphological 
unit whether in the form of a single cell, a multinucleated cell, or 
a system of cells. ^ 

What is the significance of the cellular arrangement ? Admitting 
that such is present in the organism in an all but universal degree, 
what purpose is subserved thereby? Several suggest themselves. 
Note that the total bulk of protoplasm in a body weighing one 
hundred and fifty pounds must be considerable. Supposing this 
bulk were homogeneous and undivided, what would be its structural 
peculiarity and its form? Protoplasm is fluid, hence the lack of 
mechanical support would be a serious hindrance to all of its func- 
tions and a complete prohibition of many. By virtue of the struc- 
turally differentiated cell wall, the intercellular substances-, and the 
various deposits of lime and other salts, such support becomes 
possible. A provision for growth is a second advantage in the 
cellular arrangement. Note that every living substance can be 
nourished only by the process of absorption of foods through the 
surface which is presented to the surrounding medium. Note 
further that as bodies grow the ratio of their increase in bulk to 
their increase in surface is as the cube to the square. Hence in order 
that any marked increase in size may be possible, special means must 
be provided for an increase in surface, in the absorptive area 
through which food materials may pass into the protoplasmic 
substance. By means of the division and subdivision into more or 
loss distinct cells, this increase in area is provided for. A third 
advantage is seen in the possibility of specialization in function. 
This is in part dependent upon the changes of shape that take plaoe 



^Wilson: The Cell in Development and Inheritance. 



UNITY OF THE BODY 31 

in the cell, but more upon the change in the intimate nature of the 
protoplasm itself — a change that largely defies investigation. It is 
at once apparent that a completely continuous and homogenous mass 
of protoplasm would be an insurmountable barrier to marked special- 
ization of function. The difficulty is materially reduced by the 
mechanical divisions produced in cellular development. 

Since the cell is not distinct and independent, and the body 
may rightly be considered a syncytium, what are the legitimate 
deductions? Eeference has previously been made to the necessity 
of considering the body as a whole and not as an aggregation of 
independent particles. This is fundamental in the osteopathic 
philosophy and practice. If the body is a unit then the practice of 
removal of any organ of the body because of its supposed absence 
of function is fundamentally erroneous. All organs and all parts 
of the body perform to a certain extent all vital functions. "While 
there is specialization no part of the body completely loses its 
original properties. This emphasizes the fact that the human organ- 
ism manifests the most complete as well as the most simple function- 
ing capacities, and doing so, it can meet all conditions of human 
environment on a common level, whether those conditions them- 
selves be complex or simple. And this is of importance in the 
organism's struggle for existence. When man is compelled to resist 
another organism of complex nature such as other mammals, he may 
do so by the use of his own specialized complex nature. He can 
meet brain with brain and muscle with muscle. Compelled to resist 
the effects of poisonous substances, whatever the occasion for their 
presence in his body he may meet toxin with anti-toxin. Compelled 
to withstand invasion of his own body by the unicellular organism, 
such as a pathogenic bacterium, he may meet cell with cell, for 
phagocytosis is an accepted physiological fact. The same idea is 
emphasized in the case of the internal secretions. It is known that 
many of the organs of the body provide certain substances that are 
essential to the body as a whole. It is doubtless true that every 
part of the body gives and receives from every other part, and 
Spencer's suggestion is significant that a particle of protoplasm may 
during the course of time pass to all parts of the body.^ 

A furthur interesting suggestion along this line refers to the 
relation between this bodily unity and various reflex disorders and 



^Herbert Spencer: Principles of Biology, Vol. 1., p. 192. 



32 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

chains of disorders. A pathologic condition of a group of cells may 
affect the nerve connections or the quality of the blood or, through 
the added influence of the flow of protoplasmic substance or force, 
may change the metabolism of remote structures. Virchow himself 
has suggested that the reticular arrangement of cell continuity, will 
much facilitate the conduction of various morbid processes.^ This 
fact would emphasize the necessity of looking to other parts of the 
body for irritating factors rather than merely to the regions com- 
monly involved through a disturbance of the nerve or blood 
mechanism. 

In like manner may be understood the deleterious effects on 
other and all parts of the body from the administration of drugs. 
It will thus be impossible to limit the action of a drug to the tissue 
involved in the disease; once having come in contact with the 
protoplasm of a single cell, unless thrown out by defensive action, 
the chemical irritant may pass to every other part of the body. 

Emphasis has thus been laid upon the fact of protoplasmic 
continuity, mainly to draw attention to the necessity for considering 
the body as much more than the sum of its parts. While with 
Virchow we may assert that "every animal presents itself as a sum 
of vital unities, every one of which manifests all the characteristics 
of life,"^ this can be but a half truth. The cell in the multicellular 
organism is certainly dependent on associated cells for its proper 
performance of function. The extent of that dependence is as yet 
undetermined. Recent investigations relative to the facts of internal 
secretions suggest the supreme nature of this dependence, and while 
the presumption is that the secretion is given to the blood and lymph 
to be carried to those dependent cells, yet for aught we know these 
substances and much more subtle influences may pervade the body 
through the medium of this closer connection of protoplasmic 
continuity; and we believe that there is much of practical value to 
be gained by considering, with Krukenberg, that "the organism is 
a whole and must be contemplated as such." 



iVirehow: Cellular Pathology, p. 76. 
-Virchow: loe. cit. 



CHAPTER VII 

CAUSE OF DISEASE NOT IN THE CELL 

' Prom the extreme views of the cellular structure which have 
ioUowed the investigations of Virchow and others, there has arisen 
a conception of disease which to say the least is decidedly in- 
adequate. From the view that the body is but an aggregation of 
groups of cells related only through a common nerve and blood 
supply, and each of which has its own independent function, comes 
tjie natural inference that disease constitutes an independent and 
inherent faulty condition in the activity of those cells. By the 
demonstration that protoplasmic metabolism was able to synthesize 
various substances that were auto-toxic, a key to numerous diseases 
was believed to have been found. So far as a superficial conception 
goes the assumption is correct. It is true that every cell and every 
particle of protoplasm may produce substances which are actively 
toxic to the living protoplasm if those substances be held contin- 
uously in contact with the protoplasm. It is not unlikely that any 
product of normal katabolism is equally disastrous if permitted to 
remain. Every one has experienced the sensation of fatigue. What 
is the peculiar sensory condition present ? Undoubtedly it represents 
an excess of normal waste material acting upon sensory nerve 
endings. Every student of physiology is aware that in fatigue a 
definite toxic substance is produced. The blood serum taken from 
a fatigued animal and injected into the vascular system of one in 
a rested condition, will produce in the latter every symptom char- 
acteristic of a fatigued animal. Influenza produces similar symptoms 
and Verworn has attempted to identify the two conditions or at 
least to show their marked similarity. In this condition there is 
present a material toxic to the cell and irritant to the nerve terminal 
in a manner similar to the efTect of the sarcolactic or other acid 
always present in excess in overworked muscle tissue. The presence 
of the bacillus causing influenza is not necessarily a detriment to 
the organism but in many cases pathological conditions may be 
caused in part from its activity. In these it is not the presence of the 
bacterium merely but of its excretion products that constitutes the 
deleterious influence. Whether it be a toxalbumin similar in kind 

33 



34 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

to that produced by body activity remains to be demonstrated. 
Sufficient for present purposes to note the fact that the material is 
toxic and must of necessity produce cell disorder if present in 
sufficient amount and for a sufficient period of time. Whatever the 
source of the toxic material, whether it comes from bacteria, over 
exercise, or perverted cell metabolism, it is immediately a possible 
cause for harm. 

Metabolism 

These considerations in reference to faulty metabolism have led 
many into error. The statement is made that the cause of disease 
resides in the metabolism of the cell. This is true only in a limited 
sense. A more nearly correct statement would be that the disease 
is the faulty metabolism of the cell. It remains to trace the faulty 
metabolism to its source. It is obvious that, theoretically, numerous 
forms of stimuli may come into relation with the cell protoplasm 
to modify its activity. Mechanical, thermal, chemical, electric, 
nervous stimuli — all are known to affect protoplasm. But in every 
case these influences must be brought over channels that connect 
cell with periphery or with center. For the cells constituting the 
organs usually involved in disorder are deeply situated in an 
environment of comparative quiet. Mechanical pressure does not 
act as a serious stimulus because that pressure is constant. Thermal 
conditions are unfavorable for producing response since it is only 
a sudden change that is an efficient stimulus. Chemical stimuli only 
reach it through the medium of channels which transmit fluid 
capable of performing the office of a vehicle, while nervous in- 
fluences are similarly carried over definite pathways. Nerve im- 
pulses govern blood vessels and thus indirectly the quality of the 
blood. Nerves are dependent upon blood for their nutrition. The 
cell is thus dependent, not only upon both blood and nerve supply, 
but also upon a proper relation between both of these, for its 
proper functioning. Over all is exercised a co-ordinating power, 
seemingly inherent in protoplasm and by which the cell is main- 
tained in balance between its anabolic and katabolic processes. 
Hence so long as the channels connecting cell with periphery and 
with center be kept free, no break in the chain of events constitut- 
ing the metabolic cycle is possible. The normal hydrostatic and 
osmotic pressures are maintained at such a level as to necessitate 



CAUSE OF THE DISEASE 35 

correct functioning in vital selection. Nutrient materials are taken 
in from the blood with ease and rapidity. Waste materials are 
discharged with equal facility. Fatigue cannot long persist since? 
a growing loss of irritability necessitates rest. Bacterial products 
though present in the blood do not remain long, since normal 
protoplasm secretes antitoxin and the neutralized substances ex- 
creted. An uninterrupted nerve influence keeps up constantly nor- 
mal chemical and vital protoplasmic changes. Under such circum- 
stances the cell, vital and self-sufficient, cannot easily go wrong in 
its action. 

Circulation 

But modify the conditions associated Avith the channels of inter- 
Ciiange and note the result. Changes in blood supply and drainage 
permit changes in osmotic conditions and hence changes in activity 
of the cell selection and rejection; lessened cell nutrition and cell 
regulation result. Metabolism may be abnormal from changed 
nature of nerve influence. Undoubtedly in the case of most cells 
of the body, their activity is partly under the control and co- 
ordination of nerve influence. An excess of that influence may cause 
the accumulation of the katabolic products constituting the occasion 
for fatigue. This means that the nerve initiates a too rapid trans- 
formation of potential energy of cell protoplasm into kinetic energy 
of chemical and vital activity. This additional activity further 
initiates new changes immediate and remote and a chain of events 
is inaugurated. A deficiency of nerve influence, on the other hand, 
permits a lowered resistance to other stimuli, with one or both of 
two effects, a trophic change in the tissue or a perverted quality of 
metabolism. In the latter case the complete products of the normal 
"'metabolic cycle" are not formed and hence various types of 
degeneration may follow. 

Structural Causes 

How are these interferences produced? Largely by changes in 
structural relations of those tissues least subject to vital control, 
such as connective tissue, especially bone and ligament. In this 
connection note that it is not correct to state that the lesion 
causing the disorder is a lesion of the cell. The unreduced structural 
perversion called the osteopathic lesion is essentially tissue without 



36 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

power of self -adjustment ; it is not protoplasmic but consists chiefly 
of passive intercellular substance. Why is bone so slow to yield? 
Not because of living cells in bony tissue, for they are probably 
as self-adjusting as similar protoplasmic aggregations in other tis- 
sues; but because incorporated within the osseous tissue there is 
a predominant amount of lime deposits which give to the bone its 
unyielding character, and which have no powers of self -adjustment. 

In ligamentous and other connective and supporting tissues it is 
the more inert intercellular substance that constitutes the diffi- 
culty in self -regulation when a lesion occurs; hence the emphasis 
placed upon bony and ligamentous lesions in relation especially to 
chronic disorders. 

In the absence of the abnormal structural conditions suggested, 
any failure to supply the blood with materials from which the cell 
claims its pabulum, any abuses or excesses, must have deleterious 
effects upon the cells themselves. But such effects are temporary 
unless there has been permanent structural injury, for as soon as 
any cause of injury has been removed, repair is rapid and usually 
complete. 

Altogether it would seem that the cell normally present in the 
body cannot of itself cause disease either in itself or in its neighbors. 
It is inherently healthy and is incapable of harm until the connec- 
tion between it and its blood stream, lymph channels, nerve centers 
or other normal relations have been impaired. Interference with 
these by persistent pressure from displaced structures or by accum- 
ulation of fluid, not subject to vital control, constitutes the factor 
which produces or maintains disturbances in cell metabolism. 



CHAPTER VIII 

MAN A MACHINE 
The Body a Physical Mechanism 

It was stated that underlying the practice of osteopathy there 
is the recognition of a close and fundamental relation between 
structure and function. Eeference was made to the fact that the 
human body in structural aspects partakes of the nature of a definite 
machine, the operation of which follows definite mechanical laws. 
Its cellular arrangement is incidental, but is advantageous in its 
relation to the physical support of so large a mass of protoplasm, 
its proper and perfect nutrition, and its differentiation of function. 

That man is a machine is an assertion trite enough, yet one that 
demands some consideration. A machine is an instrument by which 
force is changed in direction or intensity, the change being associat- 
ed with the transformation of energy. "While the mechanic employs 
a vast number of mechanisms, yet with the exception of certain 
electrical appliances, all may be reduced to a few simple machines, 
viz., the lever, the pulley, the wedge. Each of these is represented 
in the human body. Practically every action of the voluntary 
muscles is dependent upon the principal of the lever. When one 
extends his forearm he does so by the use of a lever of the first 
class; when he forces his body from a wall by placing his hands 
against it the lever is of the second class ; when he flexes his forearm 
he employes a lever of the third class. Borelli and Marey in their 
investigations relating to the action of the locomotor organs have 
shown by mathematical and other demonstration the nicety of 
adjustment of those organs to the work required to be done, em- 
phasizing thereby the purposefulness of the peculiarities in body 
structure. In the superior oblique muscle of the eyeball, in the 
peroneus muscle, and in the long head of the biceps, are represented 
the pulley action by which the direction though not the intensity 
of the force is changed. In the ''bag of waters" at parturition, in 
peristaltic action, and in certain factors of the process of vomiting 
are seen illustrations of the principle of the wedge. The laws of 
hydrostatics and hydrodynamics are made use of in numerous cases. 

37 



38 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

Pascal 's law of tiiiid pressure is at the basis of blood distribution and 
blood flow; capillaiy attraction, osmosis, filtration and diffusion, 
play no inconsiderable part in body functioning ; the fenestra rotun- 
dum of the middle ear with its membranous covering is a provision 
for the law of fluid incompressibility. The laws of air pressure 
are utilized in the processes of respiration and circulation, and in 
giving support to the articulations and the viscera. 

While it is thus recognized that man is a machine, the term 
mechanism is one more descriptive of the real condition, in that the 
former carries with it by association the idea of rigidity and un- 
yielding parts. This latter is obviously not a peculiarity of a living 
organism in w^hich continuous change is characteristic. Further, 
mechanism involves the idea of complexity which is noticeably 
characteristic of the human body. But whether machine or mechan- 
ism, it is to be remembered that the principles operative in each are 
in large part similar if not identical. 

A Chemical Laboratory 

The body is not merely a machine by reason of which it can 
produce various changes in the nature of the energy with which 
it comes into relation; and through the operation of purely physi- 
cal laws that are possible of expression through the arrangements 
of its numerous parts it can perform the function of a physical 
laboratory. It is in addition a chemical laboratory the capacities of 
which have a reach that is entirely beyond the artifice of man. 
Substances are formed, torn down and re-formed, which have no 
counterpart in the world outside of organic life.^ No man has yet 
been able to synthesize living proteid from the inorganic or organic 
materials at his command. Even in those syntheses which have been 
made artificially they were first secured by the means of forces 
never possibly present in living tissues, such as high temperatures, 
concentrated and destructive acids, alkalies and gases, powerful 
electric currents, and other conditions whose very presence would 



i^'The power of the living cell to effect chemical changes in the substances 
which it absorbs is most incredible, for alizarin blue, one of the substances 
which Ehrlich has employed, can only be reduced br the most powerful agents 
outside the body, for example, by boiling with caustic potash and grape 
sugar, and yet it is completely reduced within the living body by the liver 
and by the cortical substances of the kidney, and is rapidly reduced after 
death by the heart, liver and muscular substance." — Brunton: Introduction 
to Modern Therapeutics, p. 96. 



MAN A MACHINE 39 

immediately destroy all vital processes. More recently, many of 
these reactions have been secured by means of inorganic catalysts, 
by unorganizd enzymes and by certain chemico-physical states not 
yet well understood, but v^hich may, conceivably, be associated 
with the vital activities of tissues. 

We may take the living tissue and analyze it, but when the 
analysis begins the proteid has lost its life essence. What remains 
we may analyze and determine in part its constituents. We may 
take of the products of living proteid and after analysis draw 
conclusions as to the original living tissue. But we are 3^et in the 
dark as to the fundamental quality in the chemical nature of living 
protoplasm. Even the complete formula for the dead protoplasm 
defies exact statement. Even when that is once accomplished we 
shall have little reason to hope for an immediate determination 
of the composition of the living tissue. The very act of analysis 
destroys life, and within the sacred precincts of the living proteid 
molecule we may not go, and the discovery of the intimate nature 
of that substance must continue to be a subject for speculation and 
not demonstration so long as we can anticipate. 

That the conditions needful for chemical action are strikingly 
present in the human organism need hardly be emphasized. Suffice 
it to suggest a few facts that call attention to it. The body 
as a whole is over sixty per cent, water. The essential living part 
of the body, the protoplasm, contains a sufficiently greater amount 
to render it distinctly fluid. This fact is of fundamental importance 
from the standpoint of chemical possibilities. That it is fluid rather 
than solid is suggested by the fact that it flows as in the case of the 
streaming process noted in the cells of certain plants; by the ten- 
dency which the white blood corpuscle and other typical protoplasm 
exhibits to assume a spherical shape; and the further tendency of 
other fluids to assume that shape when absorbed within an environ- 
ment of protoplasm such as is noticed in the case of fat droplets. 
Owing to this fluid nature chemical action may take place more 
efficiently and more rapidly, which is a fact of considerable value 
for the purpose of quick response to stimuli so necessary to a 
complex life. Contained within this fluid material are found a 
dozen or more of the lighter chemical elements held in rather loose 
chemical combination so that when materials from the outside 
world have become absorbed into the protoplasmic substance a 



40 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

rapid change of atomic and molecular association is readily affected. 
In another section reference was made to the fact that of the ele- 
ments found associated with protoplasm a few are of fundamental 
importance, namely, the oxygen, the hydrogen, the nitrogen, and 
the carbon. A few others seem to be essential but perform a less 
important role in metabolism, while still others in special forms 
may be present or absent. The proteid material found in the body 
is in large part what is spoken of as combined proteid. Jaquet 
gives the following formula of one of the most important of the 
combined proteids, namely, haemoglobin, which suggests the extreme 
complexity of the substance and the infinite possibilities of rear- 
rangement in the processes of vital chemistry: C758 H1203 N^gg 
FCi iSa Ogis^ This represents but one of a large number of the com- 
bined proteids. If we permit ourselves to dwell upon the resources 
from which the body chemist may draw and the numerous products 
that are continuously formed we cannot be otherwise than astonished 
at the unerring precision and nicety of adjustment which is main- 
tained throughout the life of the normal individual. 

The division point between chemical action in the body and that 
dependent on other forms of energy is not a definitely determined 
one. Yet we know that many of the fundmental facts of physiology 
are largely chemical ones. Proteid foods in the alimentary canal 
are acted upon by the pepsin and the trypsin and reduced to simpler 
and more diffusible forms in a manner seemingly entirely identical 
with that which takes place outside of the body. The oxygen enter- 
ing the blood and later the tissues, forms a combination with carbon 
which is identical with oxidation processes wherever found. Hydro- 
gen and oxygen unite to form water in a manner similar to its 
synthesis elsewhere so far as can be determined. Urea, formed 
by the liver cells from ammonia and carbon dioxid in the blood, 
is in all likelihood the result of a process similar to its formation in 
the chemist's laboratory. Thus is emphasized the fact that the body 
organism is capable of chemical possibilities not only entirely like 
those outside organized life, but in addition surpasses the known 
laws and possibilities of laboratory chemistry. 

Prom the above considerations may be drawn several important 
inferences. Every compound not present as such in the food mater- 

^Burton-Orpitz: Phj^siology, 1920. 



MAN A MACHINE 41 

ials, which is necessary to the body in normal functioning, will be 
formed by the organism's own chemical processes if the elements 
are present in suitable chemical combinations. Iron compounds 
have for long been the staple remedies for anemia, in this disease 
there is a deficiency in the haemoglobin of the red corpuscles, with 
or witliout a deficiency in the number of these bodies themselves. 
Iron is one of the necessary elements for haemoglobin. It was 
assumed that by the administration of the inorganic iron compounds 
the deficiency of that element was provided for. It has been defin- 
itely proven that the iron thus administered passes through the 
body practically unchanged and unassimilated. But the practice 
of administering the iron is still too prevalent. Note the fact: 
the fault is not one of a limited source of iron but a limited power 
of assimilation of iron. The food materials of an ordinary diet 
contain enough iron as well as other elements for all normal func- 
tioning. Increasing the amount of iron even though it may be 
assimilable in such form as it is given, which is doubtful, must of 
necessity fail as a remedial measure. The organism builds up from 
the food materials all those iron compounds necessary in the com- 
position of haemoglobin. It has recently been contended that arsenic 
in small amounts is a constant constituent of certain of the tissues, 
and from this was derived the assumption that the giving of arsenic 
in certain diseases, long a thing of practice, had thus found its 
justification. Reasoning could be no more faulty. The argument 
against iron in anemia holds equally against the use of arsenic. 
In both of these cases, if a deficiency in the assimilation of the 
substance be the real condition, then the logical consideration would 
be the determination of the faulty condition of the part which 
prevents the organism itself from selecting and utilizing those sub- 
stances which are found in sufficient abundance in the blood. 

Another important deduction is this: when unusual conditions 
arise which demand unusual compounds, the latter are formed, 
provided the necessary elements and a correct adjustive mechanism 
are present. Hemorrhage is self -limited in most cases. Why? 
Fibrin, not found in blood under ordinary conditions, is immedi- 
ately formed from the interaction between thrombin and fibrinogen 
which are present either actually or potentially in the blood, on 
exposure of the latter to air or other foreign substance. Thus the 
clot is formed and further hemorrhage prevented. Why are indi- 



42 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

viduals immune from certain diseases ? In some cases by a so called 
natural immunity which presents elements in the blood and tissues 
antagonistic to infective agents. In other cases through the excess- 
ive activity due to a previous attack whereby an increase in the 
neutralizing substance was brought about. What is the source of 
lactose ? It is a sugar found only in connection with the secretions 
of the mammary glands, generated from the stimulus associated 
with the pregnant and lactation periods. 

Further instances might be supplied but the point is sufficiently 
plain. The body organism by virtue of its ability to act and be 
acted upon is continually meeting new conditions as they arise 
and responding in a manner which insures its continued activity 
as a separate and self-sufficient organism in a world of contending 
organisms and inanimate forces. Through its physical, chemical, 
and vital activities, aided by a favorable medium, it is enabled to 
maintain successfully an identity given to it by a long line of ances- 
tors and at the same time yield sufficient variation in its less import- 
ant structural and functional details to prevent disintegration. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE ENERGY OF THE BODY 

The suggestion that man is a machine gives rise to a consid- 
eration of the nature and source of the energy that must of neces- 
sity be associated with the machine. As already indicated one of the 
characteristics of the machine, whether it be animate or inanimate, 
is its ability to convert one form of energy into another. So far 
as is at present known no creation or loss of energy is possible. 
This law of the conservation of energy is one of the most funda- 
mental and significant of the laws made emphatic during the last 
century. It is no less true of the living body than of other mech- 
anisms and other worlds, that the various manifestations of motion 
are but the different forms into which the one universal energy 
may be changed from time to time. 

Nature of Energy 

What is energy? Authorities differ in details, but it is agreed 
that kinetic energy may be provisionally considered as some man- 
ifestation of motion. Dr. Still has emphasized the triune nature 
of the body in his discussions of "matter, motion and mind." Mat- 
ter is inert in so far as it may be independent of motion. But 
matter cannot be independent of motion and manifest itself to the 
senses. The two are one and inseparable. The motion of an atom 
is an integral part of the conception of an atom. As soon as matter 
becomes separate from motion the universe as such must cease to 
exist. We know that appearances are continually changing. We 
know that change is a law of nature. And change is only possible 
through the numerous forms of energy that are associated with 
the substance of which all things are composed. We may conceive 
of mass motion, and molecular motion, and atomic motion. These 
are in all likelihood different phases of the same great energizing 
principle which lies back of the manifestation. All are concerned 
with the one inherent property of all matter — that which we denom- 
inate energy. 

(Since these paragraphs were written, our understanding of this 

43 



44 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

''great energizing principle" has been somewhat broadened by 
investigations into the relations of electrons, the constituent parts 
of atoms, the nature of etheric radiations, and many other aspects 
of the physical and chemical sciences.) 

It has been said that energy remains the same in essence. How 
is it that it appears so different under different circumstances? 
This makes necessary a consideration of a corollary to the proposi- 
tion that energy is never lost or created, and that is, that there is 
a continuous transformation of energy. This capacity for trans- 
formation depends upon the circumstances and composition of the 
matter with which the energy is associated. Any mechanism which 
is able to cause a new appearance in the manifestation of energy 
is a transformer, not a creator of energy. The human body, as all 
living bodies, is such a transformer. The proposition may be illus- 
trated by several instances. 

Chemical Action 

One of the forms which energy assumes is that of chemical 
action which may be considered as an attraction between atoms. 
It is needless to do more than to call attention to the fact that body 
functioning is largely dependent upon the attraction that thus ex- 
ists. The source of such energy is ultimately from the external 
world, i. e., from the food materials taken into the body and from 
the potential capacities of the living cell which were transmitted 
to it from its parentage. Of the latter it is, as yet, necessary to as- 
sume an inherent governing force which inaugurates the various 
clianges of a chemical nature with which the embryological processes 
are associated. Such changes constitute a transformation of poten- 
tial into chemical energy. But the chemical energy thus initiated 
further assists cellular activities in which new energy is shown, and 
a retransformation appears. The food materials taken into the ali- 
mentary canal represent immense quantities of stored chemical 
energy. As this material comes in contact with certain other sub- 
stances in the canal which are the product of other cellular action 
and chemical factors, the potential energy of the food mass becomes 
kinetic in the liberation of new chemical action and heat. The 
oxygen taken into the body through the membrane of the air cell 
passes into the blood, is carried to various parts of the body, unites 
with the carbon of the food and of the body tissue, and in the 



THE liNI'RGY OF THE BODY 45 

chemical changes thus inaugurated heat is set free. In the finer 
processes of assimilation and dissimilation the same changes and 
reverse changes are produced through the continuous interaction 
of the chemical and vital activity. 

Molecular Relations 

There is a cohesive force associated with body action. This may 
be spoken of as molecular attraction. Every molecule seems to 
have an attractive, or a repulsive, effect on every other molecule. 
This is true whether the substance in or of the body be solid, fluid, 
or gas. The constant intermixing of the fluids of the body in the 
processes of diffusion and osmosis presents opportunity for varying 
relations between the molecules of the diff'erent substances. By 
virtue of this action a continuous interchange between parts of the 
body becomes possible, and considering the fact of protoplasmic 
continuity it becomes doubly significant as a factor in body meta- 
bolism. The difference in gaseous pressures between the oxygen 
of the air in the alveoli and that in the blood explains in part the 
presence of oxygen in the blood; the chemical attraction of hemo- 
globin for oxygen is also important. Similarly the excess of the 
carbon dioxid in the blood with reference to the amount in the 
lung spaces provides a means for excretion of the noxious gas. In 
the process of molecular action and interaction new conditions fav- 
orable to different atomic affinities arise and new compounds are 
constantly produced. 

Gravitation 

The energy of gravitation while not strikingly operative in 
the body is responsible for certain actions that there take place. 
This energy may be referred to as the attraction between masses, 
and while it undoubtedly exists in the case of different masses 
of the body tissue it is insignificant as compared to the attrac- 
tion between the body and the earth. In this connection it is 
interesting to note the fact that the urinary apparatus of the human 
body is so situated as to take advantage of gravitation, and by 
virtue of this fact alone the kidneys are in large part constantly 
drained of their excretions; while in most of the lower animals 
gravitation is made use of in the discharge of excretions from the 
body. Molecular and chemical movements occur in opposition to the 



46 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

force of gravitation with a consequent production of new forms 
of energy such as heat and electric action. 

Friction 

The mechanical energy of pressure, friction, and change of 
shape associated with the different parts of the same substance 
are very manifest in the body and in its relations to the external 
world. By virtue of the continuous movement of the body parts 
and the movements associated with environment, pressures and 
friction occur with the resulting liberation of heat and other forms. 
The friction of the blood upon the vessel walls accounts in part 
for the resistance to the blood flow which is so necessary to a normal 
blood pressure. This friction invariably produces additional changes 
in form, and as a result heat and electric and chemical action 
appear. The mechanical pressures of external matter and internal 
matter upon nerve terminals and less responsive protoplasm, pro- 
duces impulses which are nervous or muscular in character, either 
directly or through an intermediate chemical energy which is in 
turn converted into a nerve impulse. The latter acting upon the 
stored materials in the nerve cell body is rechanged into chemical 
and vital energy which will thence further the chain of action. 
Mechanical energy acting in the nature of a stimulus is of prime im- 
portance to the osteopath. For it is largely through the influence 
of pressures that he is able to explain the various effects from me- 
chanical displacements of tissues constituting the lesion which is 
the most important cause of disease. 

Heat 

In a special kind of molecular movement is seen another form 
of energy with which the body is associated and which is denom- 
inated thermal energy. This is spoken of as a molecular vibration 
the increase of which explains the condition of a rising temperature, 
the total absence of which constitutes the absolute zero point. That 
a certain heat level is necessary to body functioning is evident not 
only from experimental observation but from the known remarkable 
apparatus present in man which maintains that level in spite of a 
fluctuating temperature of environment. This form of energy is 
derived to some extent directly from the external world through 
the medium of radiation from the sun and other warm bodies, and 
from the materials taken in through the alimentary and respiratory 



THE ENERGY OF THE «ODY 47 

Iracts ill the form of vvarni food and air; hut, in lai'gc i>art tlie heat 
energy is indirectly derived from chemical energy the source of 
which has been already indicated. Practically every chemical action 
is associated with the liberation of heat, although in most anabolic 
processes the consumption of heat is in excess of its liberation. 
Of the chemical actions concerned with the liberation of heat 
oxidation processes are by far the most important. The amount of 
oxygen consumed in the course of twenty-four hours amounts to 
700 grams or nearly twenty quarts per hour. This is suggestive 
as indicating the immense amount of exidation that takes place in 
the body. While it is thus true that the heat is in large part derived 
from chemical action together with that resulting from mechanical 
energy of friction and movement, it is also true that a transformation 
back into chemical and mechanical energy takes place to an extreme 
degree. One chemical change liberates energy in the form of heat. 
This heat, by furnishing a normal medium initiates new chemical 
change, and is in other cases perhaps converted directly into mus- 
cular and other movement. Throughout the various metabolic pro- 
cesses these continuous transformations are manifest. 

Light 

Photic energy is essential to life processes. Light has been 
defined for lack of more definite knowledge as ether vibration. 
This vibration is ultimately essential to all life processes. The chief, 
if not the only source of the synthesis of proteid, carbohydrate, and 
fat is the cell of the living organism. From the plant the animal 
gets its food material ready made. But in order that the plant 
shall be able to efi^ect this synthesis light is necessary. Through 
some power seemingly associated with the chlorophyll bodies the 
plant is enabled to utilize sunlight in the chemical process concerned 
in the formation of foods from inorganic materials. But it is not 
alone in this indirect way that light is essential to animal life, for 
observation shows that individuals living in an environment of 
greater or less deprivation of light become abnormal in their func- 
tioning. This fact suggests the necessity for looking to'the environ- 
ment of the individual for the preservation of normal health, and 
from this fact has arisen the light cure by which it was hoped to 
overcome disease conditions through an excess of the energy, a 
certain amount of which is essential. An excess of any force or 



48 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

factor is never logical as a method of cure. That an excess of light 
is deleterious there is sufficient evidence to show. Ordinary sunburn 
m fair skinned individuals is a pathologic condition as also are the 
burns from X-ray applications. Individuals vrorking in factories 
where light is generated or in other conditions where an excess of 
light is present suffer from various forms of cutaneous and other 
disorders. 

Light is further a normal stimulus for the function of sight. In 
this case the ether vibration coming into relation with the pigment- 
ary layer of the retina is transformed into chemical energy which 
influences nerve terminals and which in turn results in the definite 
subjective sensation. Whether in the human body light is produced 
from transformation of other known forms remains to be proven. 
In the case of certain of the lower and especially of marine animals, 
chemical action or other energy is quite appreciably transformed 
into light. 

Electricity 

Electric energy is undoubtedly associated with a large number 
of body processes. In the experimental laboratory it can be shown 
that both chemical and mechanical energy may be transformed 
into electricity. It is probable that similar conditions in the case 
of the living organism are responsible for the electrical manifest- 
ations known to be present. It is known that in conditions of act- 
ivity and of pathology a difference in electric potential exists in 
muscle such that the active and the resting state are electrically 
opposite in sign, which is also true of the normal and the injured 
tissue. This becomes of special interest in view of the recent in- 
vestigations into electro-chemistry. The investigation into the 
electric conditions of the body has only begun and the further 
results are awaited with much interest. Dr. Still continually as- 
sumes the presence in normal as well as abnormal conditions, of a 
force of an electric or magnetic nature, and no demonstration to 
the contrary has yet shown that he is wrong, while what experi- 
mental evidence is available suggests that he is correct. The fact 
that such currents exist has given rise to numerous attempts to 
make use of the fact in a therapeutic way, but thus far electro- 
therapy has proven as unsatisfactory as the drug, and for the reason 
that the electrical conditions of the living organism still remain 
far outside of human understanding. 



THE ENERGY OF THE BODY 



49 



Nerve Energy 

With reference to nerve energy, little can be said. Its funda- 
mental importance is obvious and will be continually referred to. 
What it is we know not. It may be measured in its rapidity, it 
may be judged by its effect. Whether it be electrical or chemical 
or neither we can not at present say. Mechanical force, chemical 
action, light — all may influence its action and assist in co-ordinating 
its impulses. It is unique among the body forces and to the phy- 
sician presents a most interesting field of study. When its ultimate 
nature is once known and its manifestations and variations under- 
stood, much will be done toward explaining the numerous facts of 
body functioning and a long stride will have been taken toward 
the solution of many vexed problems in osteopathic practice. 



Energy Balance 

In connection with the above considerations the following table 
modified from Hall's Physiology is suggestive. Note that the energy 
of the body finally is given off largely if not entirely in the form 
of heat. Owing to the fact that the latter is fairly subject to meas- 
urement, approximations of energy expenditure can easily be de- 
termined. 

Balance Sheet of Energy for Man at Light Work. 



Ineome: 

Proteids 110 grams at 400 calories 

Pats 100 grams at 9400 calories 

Carbohydrates 400 grams at 4180 calories 

Expenditure: 

Mechanical work reduced to calories 

Excreta loss (1900 grams) 

Warming of inspired air 

Evaporating 660 grams perspiration 

Evaporating 330 grams H2O from lungs 

Radiation and conduction from skin 



Inc. in Cal. 

440,000 

940,000 

1,672,000 



3,052,000 



Exp. in Cal. 



500,000 

47,500 

84,500 

384,120 

192,600 

1,843,280 



3,052,000 



Thus far the fact has been emphasized that energy in various 
forms is fundamental to the life processes. It should be understood 
that in some forms of energy it may exist either as potential or 
kinetic, as latent or active, and that these are interchangable. The 
combination of the molecules and atoms in foodstuffs represents 
potential energy, which, on coming into relation Avith certain en- 
vironments furnished by the body, is converted into the kinetic 



50 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

energy of chemical action and heat. The free molecule of oxygen 
in the plasma of the blood, by virtue of its chemical affinities has 
the poAver to unite with carbon and other elements and substances 
with the transformation into the kinetic energy of chemical action 
and heat. The stored glycogen and related compounds in the pro- 
toplasm of muscle substance represent potentially the activity 
that becomes manifest as mechanical energy on the application of 
a stimulus. The stretched condition of the aortic wall immediately 
following the systolic discharge is potential energy which immedi- 
ately becomes active in a recoil through its elastic property. 

Summary 

Summarizing the foregoing and making a definite application, 
it may be stated that a normal condition of health is dependent on 
a proper co-ordination of energies, and that disease represents a 
condition of living matter such that inco-ordination results. If the 
nature of muscle tissue is such that its potential energy requires 
an excess of stimuli to be converted into a kinetic manifestation, 
then abnormality exists. If a nerve cell body is in a state of hyper- 
excitability due to disorders of its nutrition, the condition is a too 
ready response to a stimulus with resulting change to a kinetic 
form. Further, these transformations all represent normal stimuli 
to body action. Life processes consist largely of response to the 
stimuli of a continuous stream of impulses that pass by countless 
different tracts from periphery to center. If the external or en- 
vironmental changes are too rapid or intense for a normal response, 
or if the organism is in a condition which prevents a sufficiently 
rapid assimilation of energy and its proper conversion, disorder 
must result. In the former the fault lies with the environment and 
is a cause of disease which in another section is classified as an 
abuse of function. In the latter the condition will usually be found 
dependent on a condition of impaired structure which modifies the 
processes necessary to a proper co-ordination of energies. When 
through lesion to the digestive apparatus a deficiency of gastric 
secretion exists, the balance between the potential energy of the 
food and that of the gastric juices is disturbed. Hence disturbed 
chemical transformation results. Through a fault of the organic 
structure the heat regulation mechanism may become deranged 
and an excessive chemical action with heat liberation result with 



THE ENERGY OF THE BODY 51 

a consequent rise in body temperature. This rise in temperature 
furnishes the occasion for further excessive transformation and a 
chain of effects may follow. An injury to a muscle initiates chem- 
ical changes excessive in kind or degree, and a considerable dif- 
ference in electrical potential is produced, as w^ell as other import- 
ant changes. These various effects of the injury ultimately result 
in inflammatory changes, and these, in turn, tend to bring about 
a return to normal structure and function. If the injury is not 
too severe, and if other conditions of the body are normal, recovery 
may be almost or quite complete. The continued absence of any 
normal stimulus from environmental change, such as light, results 
in a loss of energy transformation v^hich is dependent upon such 
stimuli, and a general vv^eakness in consequence. 

With the action and interaction of matter and motion, then, and 
all under the superintendency of a guiding force, call it mind, 
vitality or vv^hat not, the normal body metabolism v^ill be main- 
tained in harmony v^ith itself and w^ith its environment. Through 
long ages the organism has been subjected to certain environmental 
conditions by which it has become adapted to all ordinary and to 
numerous extraordinary circumstances. In such adaptations of 
energy is seen one of the most remarkable facts of living tissue. 



CHAPTER X 

BODY FUEL 

The principal source of the energy of the organism is the food 
materials. It is manifest that for a proper transformation and 
utilization of energy there must be a sufficient quantity and quality 
of the food to be disintegrated to yield the necessary forms. As 
an engineer insists on a good quality of the fuel as a prerequisite 
to a full capacity in the performance of his engine, so the human 
engine must be supplied with materials appropriate to its needs. 
From analysis of the body substance and from experimental obser- 
vation it has been determined that there are certain organic and 
inorganic materials which are essential to normal body functioning. 
Among the former are proteids, carbohydrates and fats; among 
the latter, water and several salts, more especially sodium chloride. 
Three or more substances of a nature not yet well understood, 
called vitamines, are also essential to the maintenance of good 
health. Numerous other salts are found in body tissues but are 
present in sufficient abundance in the organic foodstuffs to make 
it unnecessary to supply additional material. Indeed, evidence is ac- 
cumulating to show that except in the form of these complex organic 
substances these various inorganic salts will not be assimilated. 
Bunge, in speaking of the value of lime salts makes this interesting 
observation: ''Lime is found combined in organic substances in 
food; it is therefore irrational to prescribe lime for children in 
the form of inorganic compounds. In medical practice rickety 
children are constantly being ordered a couple of teaspoons of lime 
water. This is useless because the amount ordered is far too small. 
A saturated solution of lime contains less than cow's milk. In a 
pint of cow's milk I found 1.7 grm. CaO; a pint of lime water 
contains only 1.3 grm. CaO."^ The legitimate deduction is that 
two teaspoonfuls of cows' milk would be the better prescription! 
It is true that the addition of lime-water to cow's milk forms a 
basic calcium caseinate which cannot be acted upon by rennin; 
thus the usual tough curds of cow's milk are avoided. It is, how- 



iBunge: Physiologic and Pathologic Chemistry. 

52 



BODY FUEL 53 

ever, very probably true that this action interferes witli the nutri- 
tious qualities of the milk, and that the use of limewater for this 
purpose is harmful to the child. 

The function of the inorganic salts is in large part the regulation 
Ox the medium in which organic foods may be stored, transported 
and assimilated. Thus Thompson suggests the following functions: 
"To regulate the specific gravity of the blood and other fluids of 
the body; to regulate the chemical reaction of the blood and the 
various secretions and excretions; to preserve the tissues from dis- 
organization and putrefaction; to control the rate of absorption by 
osmosis; to enter into the permanent composition of certain struc- 
tures, especially the bones and teeth; to enable the blood to hold 
certain materials in solution; to serve special purposes, such, for 
example, as the influence of sodium chloride on the formation of 
hydrochloric acid, and that of lim6 salts in favoring coagulation 
of the blood."' 

Water 

Water is an absolute essential and must be taken in greater 
quantity than is present in the solids of an ordinary diet. Its func- 
tions are largely secondary to those of the organic foods but none 
the less essential. The very fact that about sixty per cent, of the 
body is water indicates its great value. Attention was called to 
the fact that the essential life substance — protoplasm — is largely 
fluid, and for specific purposes. This fluidity is dependent on the 
presence of water. The following may be enumerated as the more 
important uses of water to the body organism: solvent, diluent, 
medium for transportation, stimulant, and as a thermolytic agent. 
Unquestionably there are individuals who take less water than is 
essential to a normal functional and structural condition. 

Proteids are the most essential of the organic substances. It has 
oeen shown by Pfluger and others that in case of the dog, of the 
organic foods proteid alone is sufficient to maintain life, while the 
absence of proteid material in the food is immediately disastrous to 
normal function and soon results in death. In general the statement 
is true that proteids are the tissue builders while carbohydrates and 
fats are energy producers, and are oxidized with the liberation of 



^Thompson: Practical Dietetics. 



54 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

heat. In the absence or deficiency of the latter two, proteid may be 
converted into sugars and fats. In addition to these comparatively 
simple requirements, vitamines and other substances, apparently not 
either tissue-builders or energy-providers, are essential to normal 
nutrition. The exact place of these substances in bodily economy 
is not yet (1922) well understood. 

Metabolism 

With the finer processes of metabolism we are of necessity 
much in ignorance. What takes place in the transformation from 
non-living to living proteid cannot be known except in the more 
gross details. This is undoubtedly true, that only those substances 
which are concerned in tissue building, secretion, and energy trans- 
formation will be permitted to remain in association Avith the living 
protoplasm. In this connection Dr. C. M. T. Hulett has emphasized 
the fundamental fact when he says, "The chain of events in meta- 
bolism is a closed chain and into this metabolic cycle no substances 
but those that serve as food can ever enter. Material not suitable 
for its upbuilding cannot be imposed upon living substance. It will 
take in only food elements and only such quantity of those as its 
needs determine, without regard to the supply which might be 
available. The only way in which other substances, as drugs, can 
become incorporated with living substance is by destroying it. Acids 
and poisons unite with it in that way. The constituent events of 
the metabolic cycle do not follow each other in a single line but 
m many lines. Pfluger has emphasized the importance of the poly- 
merization of the proteid molecule in growth — assimilation, in living 
substance, in which the simple molecule takes in from the materials 
of the environment, atoms of food elements, attaching them to itself 
until it becomes a polymeric molecule. It then breaks down into 
simple molecules, each of which repeats the process for itself, again 
and again, forming in that way numbers of chains of many similar 
links. Dissimilation is the reverse of this process, the end products 
being principally water, carbon dioxide, and urea. The successive 
chemical reactions in each chain or line have been compared to 
explosions on account of the great lability of the compounds."^ 



'Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, Nov., 1901. 



BODY FUEL 55 

Selection 

By the process of selection which is a characteristic attribute 
of living protoplasm, every particle of the latter and every normal 
cell takes or rejects the materials furnished to it by the blood 
or lymph. In a similar manner it throws out from its substance 
into the blood or lymph every material that is of no further use 
to its functioning. This is true of the substances that are formed 
from cell katabolism but is usually true also of those foreign ele- 
ments which have temporarily gained access to the protoplasmic 
substance. In order that the two processes — selection of food ma- 
terials and the rejection of waste — may be correctly balanced the 
medium for transportation must be normal in kind and quality. 
The lymph must contain sufficient available material from which 
the cell may select and must be in such a normal condition of 
osmotic pressure and chemical activity as to offer no serious hin- 
drance to the exchange of waste for nutritive substances. This 
manifestly depends on a normal condition of the blood both with 
reference to quality and quantity. Since the blood itself is man- 
ufactured within the body, from materials delivered from the food, 
the necessity for a proper diet becomes at once apparent. 



Reserves 

It does not follow from the above considerations that every 
change in the dietary conditions will immediately or remotely 
produce a disturbance in the protoplasmic exchange. For, note 
that there are large possibilities of reserve supplies between the 
cell and the digestive tract. The cell itself is capable of carrying 
on its functioning for an appreciable time even though the blood 
be totally removed. This is true because it is a function of the 
cell to store an excess of food not immediately needed. In every 
cell under ordinary conditions there are fat droplets, glycogen, and 
other reserves which in addition to its own substance will be drawn 
upon as the needs require. In the lymph and blood and in the inter- 
cellular tissues there are immense quantities of stored material. 
The liver stores glycogen abundantly. The fat of the body provides 
a great reservoir of potential energy. This explains the fact that 
the organism may fast for weeks with little impairment of function 



56 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

though there will be an appreciable loss of substance, chiefly of 
those structures and organs which are not immediately necessary 
to life. 

Diet 

What are the essentials in a diet? The science of dietetics 
is still in a condition of chaos. Analysis of the body tissues and 
secretions have thrown some light on the problem. Note this 
fact : the chemical composition of a foodstuff is not a sufficient 
criterion for judgment as to its value to the organism. If this 
were the case the food supply of the world would become a question 
of laboratory synthesis. The various elements must be in a definite 
condition of combination. Further, not all combinations seemingly 
alike in their various characteristics are equally available to the 
organism. Starch and cellulose are similar in composition but the 
latter is nearly indigestible. Various of the prepared foods, while 
containing all the elements and compounds in proper proportion, 
have been found deficient in their nutritive value. The condensed 
foods, peptonized and otherwise predigested foods, are not suitable 
for ordinary conditions. The decrying of white flour and extolling 
the whole wheat variety was the fashion among the dietarians a 
few years back. Chemical analysis had shown that the whole 
wheat contained the essential organic foodstuffs in more nearly 
a correct proportion than did the white. Yet analysis of the feces 
shows that the proteid in the husks and outer part is much less 
available and hence in large part of no use to the organism except 
as a stimulant to peristalsis. The vitamines, whose nature is not 
yet known (1922) are essential to growth and to health. 

With the average diet available to the ordinary American the 
organism is amply able to extract sufficient of the nutritive prin- 
ciples to maintain bodily vigor. Statistics with reference to differ- 
ent people and different climates are illuminating more in that 
they show that what is chemically a very deficient diet is actually 
and physiologically a very sufficient one. The Esquimaux with his 
tallow and the Chinaman with his rice do not show sufficient differ- 
ences from those subsisting on a more varied diet — explainable 
alone from dietetic conditions — to make it a safe rule to rely upon 
chemical analysis alone for judgment of food values. 



BODY FUEL 57 

Proteid Requirements 

Well-nourished nations eat, on an average, about one hundred 
grams of proteid foods each day for each grown person. It has 
been shown experimentally that a grown man can do active work, 
and remain in nitrogen equilibrium and in good weight and good 
health, upon a diet containing one-third of this amount. It 
has been supposed by many recent authors (1922) that protein 
extravagance may lead to renal, hepatic and intestinal disturbances, 
and to various types of toxemia.^ 

On the other hand, there is great danger that in reducing the 
consumption of proteid foods, and especially in reducing the variety 
of proteids used, there may be serious reduction of the factors of 
safety. Under the experimental conditions, men are not subjected 
to undue strains, nor to infections, nor to emotional or other con- 
ditions of stress, such as are inevitable in ordinary life. A broader 
study of entire peoples or families, especially since the Great War, 
shows rather distinctly that any constant and marked deviation 
from the proteid intake of about 100 grams per day per grown 
person is associated with diminished resistance, diminished men- 
tality and enthusiasm, and increased tendencies to toxemias, renal 
and hepatic diseases, the very diseases which have previously been 
ascribed to the protein excesses.- 

Palatability and Idiosyncrasy 

The question of palatability must be considered. Cooking, con- 
diments in reasonable amounts, flavoring materials, and pleasant 
surroundings add not only to palatability but also to the digestibility 
and the nutritive qualities of foods. These factors must all be 
taken into consideration in connection with the treatment of poorly 
nourished individuals. 

In connection with the above Professor Atwater says: ''Digest- 
ability is often confused with another very different thing, namely, 
the agreeing or disagreeing of food with the person who eats it. 
During the process of digestion and assimilation the food as we 
have seen, undergoes many chemical changes, some of them in 
the intestines, some in the liver, muscles, and other organs. In 

^Lusk: Science of Nutrition. 
2MeKillop: Food Values. 



58 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

these changes chemical compounds may be formed which are in one 
way or another unpleasant and injurious, especially if they are 
not broken down (as normally they are) before they have oppor- 
tunity thus to act. Some of the compounds produced from the 
foods in the body may be actually poisonous." 

''Different persons are differently constituted with respect to 
the chemical changes which their food undergoes and the effect 
produced, so that it may be literally true that 'one man's meat 
is another man's poison.' Milk is for most people a very whole- 
some, digestible and nutritious food, but there are persons who 
are made ill by drinking it, and they should avoid milk. The writer 
knows a boy who is made seriously ill by eating eggs. A small 
piece of sweet cake in which eggs have been used will cause him 
serious trouble. The sickness is nature's evidence that eggs are 
for him an unfit article of food. Some persons have to avoid straw- 
berries. Indeed, cases in which the most wholesome kinds of food 
are hurtful to individual persons are, unfortunately, numerous. 
Every one must learn from his own experience what food agrees 
with him and what does not." 

This question of personal idiosyncracy concerning foods is an 
interesting one. In some cases it seems to depend upon distaste, 
and this, in turn, upon unpleasant emotional associations. In other 
cases it seems to be due to improper functions of the digestive 
organs. Such cases often lose the idiosyncracy after receiving 
osteopathic treatment and the correction of lesions affecting the 
digestive tract. 

Dietetic Habits 

The time for eating or the frequency does not exercise as great 
an influence upon body conditions as one is led to think by 
numerous so-called health journals. True, one may eat so 
often as to prevent recuperation between the periods of activity 
of the digestive apparatus. The frequent eating of small amounts 
of food is not necessarily bad practice and may be an adequate 
method of meeting certain abnormal gastric conditions. Overload- 
ing under any circumstances is objectionable. An abrupt change 
in dietetic habits is of more importance as a cause of digestive 
trouble than is the particular habit of the individual. 



BODY FUEL 59 

Eating in Disease 

With disease conditions present the viewpoint is somewhat 
changed. Yet we are largely in the dark with reference to the 
dietetic principles to be employed in particular cases. In most 
cases appetite is a safe guide in health and within limits it is also 
in disease. Very few cases present themselves where it is advisable 
to force an individual to eat against his own desire. ''Just a little 
to keep up strength" is advice and practice which is accountable 
for numerous prolonged disorders. The patient's desire will usually 
indicate the time. But it is equally faulty logic to withold nour- 
ishment long after the appetite has returned. Fasting for ten, 
twenty, thirty days is advocated by various physicians, many of 
whom rejoice in the reputation of following all methods of treat- 
ment that are natural! Excesses are always unnatural, and the 
substitution of one abnormal condition for another is never logical 
and is rarely advantageous. The individual may get well, but the 
result is only another of the indications that the organism may reg- 
ulate its function even under adverse circumstances. Like surgery, 
the long fast is sometimes a useful method of treatment. 



CHAPTER XI 

A SELF-SUFFICIENT MACHINE 

While it is necessary to make emphatic the fact that the human 
body is machine-like in its structure and operations it must not be 
forgotten that it is far more than a machine in the usual sense of 
that word. It surpasses the ordinary machine in the fact that it is 
self-feeding, self-oiling, self -op crating, and self-regulating. 

By virtue of the facts emphasized in the previous sections the 
body organism is enabled to care for itself, so long as it is supplied 
with normal diet and environment, for its natural duration of life. 
The importance of this idea is such that it will be considered at 
some length. If it were asked what fact is most striking and most 
fundamental in the osteopathic philosophy, we should unhesitat- 
ingly affirm, the self-regulating power inherent in protoplasm. At 
the outset it must be noted that the organism's power of self -pro- 
tect! on is not unlimited. "While from one viewpoint it is preferable 
to consider all things as co-operating for the ultimate good of each 
other rather than as a life-and-death struggle for existence, yet 
the latter condition undoubtedly does represent one of the tenden- 
cies of all nature. Hence it is presumptuous, in view of knowTi 
facts, to assume that the body organism will triumph in all its 
encounters. But the fact that it is sufficient for ordinary condi- 
tions of environment and for numerous and extreme emergency con- 
ditions must be emphasized by a few illustrations. 

In Health 

1. It is self-sufficient functionally in health. Note an illus- 
tration in the mechanism of circulation : the stomach on the inges- 
tion of food needs an increase of blood. The food materials act 
as a stimulus to certain nerve terminals in the gastric mucosa; 
afferent impulses are sent to a nerve center in the spinal cord 
where efferent impulses are generated, resulting in a dilatation of 
the gastric arterioles; the general blood pressure remaining unal- 
tered, an increased blood flow to the stomach is inevitable. In res- 
piration : by reason of an increase in metabolism, an excess of 
carbon dioxid is generated and modifies the normal condition of 

60 



A SELF-SUFFICIENT MACHINE 61 

the blood; that excess acts as a stimulant to certain nerve cells 
located in the medulla; these generating efferent impulses over 
the nerves controlling the respiratory apparatus cause an increased 
activity of that mechanism whereby the excess of carbon dioxid 
is eliminated. In heat regulation (thermotaxis) : the individual 
is exposed to a sudden lowered external temperature; by nerve 
influence and direct effect superficial vaso-constriction and deep 
vaso-dilation occur, the individual shivers, draws his limbs closer to 
his body; hence not only a lessened opportunity for heat loss but 
through several media an increased metabolism results, which means 
the maintenance of the average body temperature within narrow 
limits. Protection against poisoning from toxic materials produced 
in normal metabolism, is strikingly illustrated in the case of the 
conversion of ammonia which is quite poisonous into urea which 
is much less so, by the cells of the liver. In vomiting is seen an 
example of an emergency function exemplifying self -regulation ; 
an irritating substance is taken into the stomach which, acting as 
an intense stimulus on terminals of the vagus nerve, causes afferent 
impulses to pass to the vomiting center in the medulla; efferent 
impulses sent out over the vagus, the lower intercostals, and the 
phrenic, cause a forcible expulsion of the irritating materials, at 
the same time through other mechanisms the orifices of the stom- 
ach are co-ordinated, the glottis closed, and anti-peristalsis of the 
esophagus occurs. In the depressor nerve another emergency func- 
tion is provided for; under ordinary conditions of blood pressure 
that nerve is inactive. When by reason of increased peripheral 
resistance or other cause the pressure becomes excessive, terminals 
of the nerve in the walls of the ventricle are stimulated, efferent 
impulses are sent to the vaso-motor center and general and special 
dilation occurs with a consequent lowering of pressure. 

In Disease 

But also in disease conditions we note the regulation. In the 
high temperature of the body we have a condition unfavorable to 
the development of micro-organisms which are known to be asso- 
ciated with various fever states. High temperature is brought about 
by the disturbed condition of the body, the excess of waste producing 
a condition of toxity, which acts as a stimulus to an excessive meta- 
bolism resulting in an overactive oxidation. In great part the rise 



62 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

in temperature results from a lessened heat loss through peripheral 
vaso-eonstriction. The heat thus generated acts not only in the 
manner suggested above but assists in ridding the body of foreign 
and waste material by burning it. The spirilla of recurrent fever 
lose their mobility at 40° C. (104° F.) ; the most favorable temper- 
ature for the tubercle bacillus is 37°-38°C. (99.5 °P.) the propaga- 
tion of the streptococcus erysipelat^s is terminated at 40*'C. (104''F.) 
and the organism is killed at 4rC. (lOS.S^F.) 

Slosson has shown that leucocytes move with increased activity, 
and engage in phagocytosis more efficiently, when the cells are 
kept at a temperature of 99° to 103°F. Their efficiency in destroy- 
ing bacteria and in removing foreign materials is thus greatest in 
mild fevers.^ 

In convulsions, according to Dr. Still," is represented an eifort 
to overcome a disturbance in the equilibrium of certain of the vital 
forces. The increased activity of the skin in disturbed renal condi- 
tions represents an emergency function as well as an example of 
the substitution power of the body organs. In infection the white 
blood corpuscles are increased in number and efficiency as a result 
of some stimulus dependent on the presence of pathogenic bacteria; 
while in addition to this function of phagocytosis of the white blood 
cell an increased antitoxic condition of the blood and tissues is 
produced dependent on the same factors.'^ 

Starvation 
In starvation the body is preserved in a remarkable manner, for 

iJane Slosson, A.O.A. Jour., July, 1917. 

^Still: Philosophy of Osteopathy. 

^Stern and Korte (Berl. klin. Wochen., 1904, No. 9, p. 213), by using a 
method devised by Neisser and Wechsberg, have measured the bactericidal 
power of the blood serum of typhoid fever patients and of normal individuals. 
To fixed quantities of fresh unheated rabbit serum and a dilution of twenty- 
four-hour bullion culture of typhoid bacilli varying amounts of heated typhoid 
serum were added. After the mixture had remained at 36.5 C. for three hours 
the whole was plated. The authors find that almost complete bacteriolysis 
takes place, even when typhoid serum is used in very high dilutions. In a 
few cases the serum, when diluted 50,000 times, is still active. Sera from 
persons who have not had typhoid fever possess a much lower bactericidal 
value, and usually are only effective in dilutions of 1:200 or thereabouts. No 
relationship can be made out, either between the severity of the disease or 
the tendency to relapse and the bactericidal value of the serum. Neither does 
there appear to be any direct connection between the agglutinating power 
of the serum and its bactericidal action. Sera diluted beyond the agglutin- 
ating point are still bactericidal. — American Journal of The Medical Sciences, 
June. 1904. 



A SELF-SUFFICIENT MACHINE 63 

not only are stored foods — glycogen, fat, etc. — first drawn upon, 
but when the source of supply becomes exhausted the organs least 
essential suffer first. The following table from Stewart's Physi- 
ology, giving percentages of total organ weight lost in starvation 
is suggestive : 

Brain 3 Kidneys 26 

Heart 3 Blood 27 

Bones 14 Muscles 31 

Pancreas 17 Testes 40 

Intestines 18 Liver 54 

Lungs 18 Spleen 67 

Skin 21 Fat 97 

During fasting, there is usually a tendency to assume the reclin- 
ing position, to avoid exertion, and to pass many hours in sleeping. 
There is usually also a feeling of chilliness, which causes the patient 
to seek warm places and to wrap himself in warm clothing. All of 
these factors protect the body from loss and prolong life. 

Structural Relations 

2. It is self-sufficient structurally. Note the calloused condi- 
tion of the palms in the case of an individual who performs much 
manual labor; or the similar hardening of the gums of those who 
are without teeth — structural change because of functional increase. 
The body is continually meeting with mechanical forces sufficient 
to temporarily displace parts, e. g., the ribs, in which the normal 
tension of muscle and ligament is usually sufficient to readjust. 
In case of slight wounds blood and lymph together are able to ap- 
proximate the parts and secure healing. 

But also in disease the regulating power over structure is man- 
ifested. When the structural change in the semi-lunar valves per- 
mits a regurgitation of blood, the ventricular muscle hypertrophies 
to correspond to the increased work to be done ; in which case we 
have a compensatory structural change. In dislocation of the hip 
where tension of ligaments and muscular effort are insufficient to 
accomplish reduction, compensatory changes occur, such as short- 
ening and lengthening of muscles and formation of a new aceta- 
bulum with adhesions for ligaments. In broken bones where con- 
tinual motion has prevented the knitting process, "false joints" 
have been formed with all the essential structures, articular surfaces^ 



64 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

ligaments and synovial membranes imitated or formed. In local 
dilatation of the upper intestine in case of absence of the stomach, 
and in dilatation of the esophagus after obstruction of the cardiac 
orifice of the stomach, and in the compensatory development of veins 
and arteries after other veins and arteries have been destroyed, we 
have illuminating instances of the ability of the organism to rise to 
the occasion. 

The above facts have been emphasized for the purpose of 
impressing the fundamental proposition that all processes of heal- 
ing are dependent on the inherent power of protoplasm; that that 
inherent power to heal will be exercised so long as structural con- 
ditions are normal, and that in the majority of cases where the 
structural conditioiis are abnormal, adjustment of the latter is not 
beyond its power; that the duty of the physician is only to keep 
external things — things external to function — favorable to the ex- 
ercising of that power. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE TENDENCY TO THE NORMAL 

The considerations in the last chapter lead to a more definite 
determination as to the nature of the normal condition and the 
reasons for such a tendency to maintain or restore that condition. 
If the question were asked as to what constitutes a normal condi- 
tion few there are who would not be able to give a fairly satisfactory 
answer in general terms. But though the general conception were 
held by each, to explain the specific elements necessary in a normal 
condition is a task of some considerable difficulty. 

What is Normal? 

If we answer that a normal body is one in which the different 
parts are working in harmony we have a satisfactory general en- 
swer. But if we attempt to give the several elements a mathemat- 
ical value and then insist upon measuring every individual by that 
standard we will certainly meet with insurmountable difficulty. If 
by careful estimates we determine that 33 grams of urea is the nor- 
mal amount excreted in 24 hours, shall we call that individual ab- 
normal who excretes only 28 grams? If we determine that 72 beats 
per minute shall be the standard for heart action, shall we decide 
that Napoleon whose heart rate was 40 and that others whose rate 
was below or above the average figures were not normal? In rela- 
tion to men collectively, then, no standard of normality can be 
given. But what about the individual? Can we establish a stand- 
ard for each individual? The difficulties are identical. The indi- 
vidual condition is continually changing in quality and quantity 
of functioning. The change is no evidence of a departure from 
the normal. It is the normal that varies and hence an absolute 
value cannot be given to the various elements constituting a normal. 

If we shall make symptoms the criterion of our judgment we 
shall certainly fail in numerous cases. Many diseased conditions 
are present for long periods of time though presenting absolutely 
no noticeable symptoms, subjective or objective. Further, certain 
changes in appearance ordinarily considered symptomatic of dis- 

65 



66 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

ease are not so in reality; for instance a rapid heart beat is usually 
apparent following the climbing of a steep hill. The individual is 
not subjectively distressed and the objective symptom of rapid heart 
beat is present. But the actual condition instead of being abnormal 
is normal under the circumstances. Is pain an abnormal condition? 
Not necessarily nor usually. Subjectively it is a psychic condition 
and as such is in one sense a product of cerebral activity. In so 
far as it is a warning it is a normal condition though it is evidence 
of some abnormal condition. This is equally true of other sub- 
jective symptoms. We cannot, therefore, rely upon symptoms alon^ 
as a criterion for judgment of a normal condition. The best tha^ 
can be done under the circumstances is the determination of th 
physiological condition of an individual by comparison with th . 
average condition of the average individual under similar circumi 
stances. We must judge the fact or the degree of abnormalit-- 
according to the presence or absence of symptoms, or of disturr. 
ances of function, structure, comfort or mentality,, or according t 
the findings secured by various physical, chemical or functional 
examinations, since the exact line of demarcation between normal 
and abnormal is a non-determinable quantity. 

Heredity 

While it is true the details constituting a normal condition are 
not confined within known and unyielding limits, the general forces 
back of the tendency may be determined. In the first place there 
are two fundamental forces associated with the life of each organ- 
ism, the first of which is heredity. By the term is meant that pecul- 
iarity derived from the total ancestry, that compels a likeness tc 
type. What is inherited? (a) The life principle itself and (b) the 
structure of the body. It is to be noted that inheritance does not 
refer simply to the relation between immediate parent and offspring 
but between the whole line of ancestors and the individual. Ar 
individual may present the special peculiarities of his grandsir- 
rather than those of his sire, in which case there is a special qualit: 
of germ plasm handed down through the parents but not becoming 
manifest in them, to reappear in developed form in the grandson 
Such a reversion to ancestral characters is technically referred to 
as 'atavism or reversion. 

Many peculiarities of heredity must be considered. The Men- 



THE TENDENCY TO THE NORMAL 67 

delean laws govern certain hereditary factors, and these may de- 
termine the prognosis in certain diseases. Hereditary structural 
conditions may predispose to certain types of disease, or may give 
comparative immunity to other diseases. The heredity of struc- 
ture includes structures v^^ithin the body as well as those visible; 
includes microscopic structures as well as macroscopic structures. 

Variation 

The second great force is that of adaptation which has reference 
to the peculiarity that permits an unlikeness to type — a peculiarity 
vhich is dependent on the environment for its manifestation. AVhat 
aries? The special features and functions. No two individuals 
re alike in their structural or their functional characters ; and this 
idividual variation, in so far as it is not a likeness to some ancestor, 
dependent on conditions of environment, i, e., dependent on stim- 
li acting upon the organism during its separate existence. 
Both of the two great forces are necessary; the one in order 
.hat stability shall be preserved and the identity of the species 
maintained; the other in order that the individual shall not be 
disintegrated because of an absolutely unyielding nature. Each 
one of the two forces tends to counteract the extreme tendencies 
of the other and hence the happy medium is maintained. Heredity 
alone would make an absolute condition necessary to a normal one. 
No adaptation to the continually arising new circumstances could be 
possible. Because of the adaptation associated with the living ma- 
terial variation is possible. Hence the boundaries of the field of 
Qormal action are markedly widened. Kecognizing the two forces 
it is possible to explain in a general way individual peculiarities, 
such as a difference in heart beat, in bowel activity, and perspiration ; 
and circumstantial peculiarities, such as increase in respiration de- 
pendent on altitude, hypertrophy of the heart in valvular disorders, 
thickening of tissues in cases of continuous wear. 

These conditions =*become of special interest and fundamental 
mportance to the osteopath especially in their application to the 
ietermination of lesions. In a later chapter there is indicated in 
ietail the points necessary to consider in the diagnosis of a lesion 
but in this connection we wish to emphasize one case. The ten- 
dency of the beginning osteopath is to assume that every variation 
of structure, especially in the position of the spinous process, is a 



68 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

lesion. The foregoing considerations would suggest some possible 
exceptions. Experience demonstrates that there are numerous ex- 
ceptions. The spinous process may be deviated because of an over- 
development of muscles on one side — the right in right-handed indi- 
viduals, for example — or from a faulty condition of nutrition in 
foetal life, or from various other forces, which while causing an 
appreciable variation from the average condition does not cause 
or predispose to disease, and hence could not rightly be called a 
lesion. What is true of the position of parts is true of the several 
other conditions that may be present. In all considerations of 
diagnosis the possibility of unusual appearances being normal must 
be recognized. 

Adaptation 

A normal individual is one sufficiently like the species to main- 
tain its identity as a member of that species but pliable enough to 
change in any part or function sufficiently to meet the average 
emergencies of environment, without interfering in any way with 
associated functions. If the incidental forces are sufficiently in- 
tense or prolonged to produce a modification beyond the limits of 
adaptive response disease will result. Otherwise, while function 
and structure may be temporarily modified, disease beyond the 
limits of self-cure will not occur. As a specific illustration mention 
may be made of the effect of a change of altitude. On passing from 
a lower level to one considerably higher a new condition of environ- 
ment is represented in the rarer atmosphere. If there were not the 
principle of adaptation, the organism would soon succumb for lack 
of oxygen, but possessed of that principle the organism responds 
by a quantitative change of function. Respiration and heart action 
are quickened, new red blood cells are rapidly formed, and vital 
equilibrium thereby maintained. This change of function is not 
perverted function, for it is normal — ^necessary — under the circum- 
stances. The normal has varied to meet varying circumstances, 
and thus normal functions are maintained. ^Temporarily, the in- 
creased function may distress, but permanently other functions are 
unimpaired. But, if this change of air pressure be extreme, so that 
the organism's adaptive capacity is overreached, functions are per- 
verted and disease beyond self-cure will result. 

This tendency to the normal results in part from certain well 
known principles which may be enumerated. 



THE TENDENCY TO THE NORMAL 69 

1. First are those of a physical nature. Self-reduction of lux- 
ations depends to a considerable extent upon the difference in me- 
chanical tension on opposing parts of the luxated structure. In 
the case of the formation of a new acetabulum the mechanical pres- 
sure operates to produce the cavity. The discharge of irritating 
particles from the bronchi is effected by an apparatus which utilizes 
air pressure. 

2. The tendency may depend upon chemical conditions. The 
carbon dioxid acts as a chemical stimulus to the nerve cells con- 
trolling respiration. Immunity to certain diseases through the me- 
dium of an increased antitoxic condition of the blood is secured by 
chemical means. The coagulation of the blood, thereby preventing 
its own loss, is largely a chemical process. 

3. In many instances the nature of the reaction is not well 
understood, as in chemotaxis, phagocytosis and many co-ordinating 
activities. 

It is not to be presumed however that these various separate 
principles act separately in bringing about the adjustment. It is 
likely that in no case is this true but that many factors are associ- 
ated and co-ordinated by the organism. And thus continually guard- 
ing and restoring, the organism is enabled to pass its alloted exist- 
ence in a world rife with changes of environment which may at 
any time be sufficient to inaugurate disease. But by virtue of the 
tendency exercised both in ordinary and extraordinary circumstan- 
ces it may usually triumph, and hence it is in a very real sense that 
the statement is true that "disease is the stimulus of its own cure." 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE ETIOLOGY OF DISEASE 

In a previous chapter it was suggested that health represents 
a condition of body harmony and that disease is body discord. For 
purposes of convenience perverted function may be accepted as a 
definition of disease. While this is not entirely satisfactory in that 
most diseases are associated with structural changes also, yet the 
appearances so strongly emphasize the prime importance of func- 
tional perversion that use will be made of the phrase. Granting 
that there are limits to the self-regulating power of the organism 
and that disease does exist, it becomes necessary to inquire into the 
cause of disease : and first will be mentioned the most important of 
two general causes. 

Abnormal Structural Conditions 

Whatever in addition he may be, man is certainly a machine. 
It is further obvious that the function of a machine, its action, is 
absolutely dependent on its structural integrity and that just as 
soon as any part of the machine becomes disturbed in relation to 
other parts disorder of action will result. Is this true of the man- 
machine? It would seem a simple proposition easily answered. 
Yet objection is offered. Without at this time entering into a dis- 
cussion of the relative placing of structure and function, a few 
facts may be indicated tending to prove indisputably the contention 
that the abnormal structural condition is a frequent cause of per- 
verted function. 

Gross Lesions 
Medical history teems with records of cases where at least gross 
anatomical disturbances indicate definite and far-reaching physiolog- 
ical disorder. A few such will be specified. A dislocated hip 
or a subluxation of the sacro-iliac articulation, or a lumbo-sacral 
subluxation, will cause sciatica. How does it do so? By direct 
pressure, not necessarily on the nerve, perhaps, but upon structures 
closely enough associated with it — its blood supply, for example — 
to result in its disorder. Note the statement of Church: ''Com- 
pression of the nerve in sitting or by vigorous action of the leg- 

70 



THE ETIOLOGY OF DISEASE 71 

flexors and rarely contusion from blows below the sciatic notch 
may induce it.'" Strumpbell refers to "neuralgias secondary to 
trauma and compression."- A dislocated cervical or even lumbar 
vertebra will cause paralysis by pressure upon the spinal cord or 
upon its sources of supply. Scudder refers to cervical conditions 
in this manner: "The most common form of cervical dislocation 
is that occurring upon one side, and is usually without fatal result. 
This is rather a common injury. It is often unrecognized."" An 
occluded blood vessel may cause gangrene. Note-Nancrede's state- 
ment: "Indeed except when the traumatism physically disintegrates 
tissues as a stone is reduced to powder, heat or strong acids phys- 
ically destroy structure, or cold suspends cellular nutrition so long 
that when this nutrition becomes a physical impossibility vital metab- 
olism can not be resumed, gangrene always results from total de- 
privation of pabulum."'' He also indicates that most surgeons assert 
that the moist form depends in part upon interference with drain- 
age. According to many authors and investigators, including the 
renowned Virchow, the gastric ulcer is caused by a disturbance 
of the circulation by embolism or other occlusion or obstruction. 
A flat chest vitiates lung tissue and renders it susceptible to invasion 
by bacteria. Pregnancy by pressure on renal vessels produces 
albuminuria. Sclerosis, overgrowth and hardening of connective 
tissue structure, causes paraplegia and similar conditions. Tachy- 
cardia may be caused by pressure paralysis of the vagus nerve 
from "tumors, aneurism, enlarged lymph-glands, * * * * in the neck 
or the thorax."' A sprained ankle causes congestion and infiltration, 
thereby producing various sensory and motor disturbances directly 
and reflexly. And finally, "the movements of the muscles of the 
neck, by pressing on the jugular vein, are sufficient to affect the 
cerebral circulation."^ 

Lesions of Less Degree 

In all the cases mentioned above we have illustrations of the 
fact that function depends on structure. That such cases exist is 



^Church and Peterson: Nervous and Mental Diseases. 
^Strumpbell: Text-Book of Medicine. 

^Scudder: The Treatment of Fractures with Notes upon a few Common 
Displacements. 

^Nancrede: Principles of Surgery. 
^Anders: Practice of Medicine. 
^Schafer: Text-Book of Physiology. 



72 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

recognized by all authorities and is disputed by none. In all of 
these cases the anatomical perversion is a gross one and the func- 
tional change is also gross. Why should we limit the application of 
the principle to the gross cases? Let us further analyze some of 
the above instances. All are agreed that the dislocation of a hip 
can produce an inflammation of the sciatic nerve. Is it a greater 
tax on the intellect to conceive of a functional disorder of less 
degree dependent upon a less severe structural perversion? 

If an intense, stimulus will produce neuritis why will not a 
less intense but long continued stimulus produce, if not a neuritis, 
at least an appreciable disorder of some other kind, for instance, 
a deadening effect, a numbness, or change in vasomotor impulses that 
are carried by the sciatic nerve? Note the case of the paralysis, 
partial or complete, dependent on dislocation of a cervical vertebra. 
Is it an insult to intelligence to assent to the proposition that if a 
gross dislocation can produce a paralysis, a less perversion, for 
instance, a severe torsion or strain, may so impinge not upon the 
cord directly but upon the innumerable channels that connect the 
contents of the neural canal with the structures anterior to the 
spinal column, as to very materially interfere with the exchange 
between these regions? 

If it be possible that gangrene of a tissue is dependent on the 
total obstruction to the arterial supply to that tissue, why is it not 
reasonable that a partial interference with the flow of blood through 
an artery may result in a less completely starved condition? That 
partial interference may easily be produced by direct pressure of 
structures upon it or by interference with the nerve mechanism 
which governs its diameter. And if an enlarged lymphatic gland 
may by pressure produce a rapid action of the heart through inter- 
ference with the inhibitory function of the vagus, why is it not 
reasonable that tightened conditions in the spinal structures, by 
pressure upon the accelerator fibres found in the sympathetic, may 
produce a similar overactivity of the heart? There is no question 
that such tightened conditions occur, and are followed by such 
cardiac disorders. 

If the lungs are weakened by a depressed condition of the thorax 
walls, why is it not true that the heart may suffer from a like 
crowding, or, through a weakened diaphragm which reasonably 
could follow the depressed ribs, a general ptosis of the abdominal 



THE ETIOLOGY OF DISEASE 73 

organs result? If it is possible that contraction of cervical muscles 
produces a change in cerebral circulation why may not a chronic- 
ally contracted muscle produce a chronic disturbance of that cir- 
culation and hence a congested headache? 

If a pregnant uterus by virtue of its size and weight may produce 
renal disorder by pressure, why may not a tumor or a subluxated 
bone, or edematous tissues acting upon a vital structure directly or 
indirectly connected with the kidney, produce disorder of that 
organ in a similar manner? 

If a sprained ankle is a common occurrence and if congestion 
and infiltration are resulting conditions which cause direct and 
reflex disturbances, why is it such a draft upon credulity to believe 
that a similar common condition of sprain, with similar congestions 
and infiltrations and similar direct and reflex disorders may occur 
in the scores of articulations which are presented by the spinal 
column ? 

But it is not necessary to rest the case entirely on assumption. 
Evidence has been accumulated and is still accumulating which is 
most confirmatory in character. Case after case has been found 
by physicians who are careful in observation and logical in judg- 
ment, showing that these various structural perversions are present 
and are associated with functional disorders, the removal of the 
structural conditions uniformly resulting in a disappearance of the 
disorder. It is at the present time not so much a question as to 
the fact that a structural disorder produces the disease as to the 
details of the manner in which the latter is brought about. 

(Experiments performed upon animals, especially by members 
of the staff of the A. T. Still Research Institute, show that the sub- 
luxations of vertebrae can be produced, and can be shown in stere- 
oscopic X-ray plates; that these lesions do produce pathological 
changes in the tissues around the lesions, and that distant tissues, 
innervated from the corresponding segments, also suffer patholog- 
ical changes. 

Other experiments show that the correction of such lesions re- 
sults in a more or less complete recovery, according to the amount 
of tissue destruction produced before the correction of the lesion. 
Full accounts of these experiments are published in the bulletins 
of The A. T. Still Research Institute, and in the Journal of the 
American Osteopathic Association.) 



CHAPTER XIV 

DISEASE MAINTAINED BY STRUCTUEE 

It is not of such moment as to what was the original stimulus 
to a disordered function. We have no quarrel with those who 
insist that the functional disorder may result from a multitude of 
forces which act continually upon the organism. It is readily admit- 
ted that constant disregard for well known laws of health must of 
necessity produce disorder, and in another section special attention 
is called to the fact. The more important question is to determine 
what is fact and what is fiction in the mass of rules given for correct 
living. A thousand conditions of environment and of individual 
habit may initiate or predispose to disorder of function. This fact 
must be recognized in order that the individual shall understand 
that he must reap what he sows. It must be a part of the work 
of the physician, as it is only less emphatically the duty of every 
man, to assist in a proper understanding of the known laws of 
health, and a proper appreciation of the responsibility of one's own 
health, bodily, mental and spiritual. Temperance in all things is 
absolutely a prerequisite for continued well being. Any intemper- 
ance will result in at least a temporary impairment of function. 
With most normal individuals a few experiences teach wisdom. 
Hence most individuals pass through life with a fair degree of health 
so far as disorder dependent on wilful abuse is concerned. When, 
however, a disorder becomes manifest and persists in spite of removal 
of the intemperance or abnormal conditions of environment it is 
certainly logical to assume that some other factor is maintaining 
the disease. The osteopath insists that the other factor is perver- 
sion of structure, and that structure a part which is less immediately 
and less completely subject to vital control — the more inert tissues 
such as bone, ligament, cartilage, and other connecting structures. 
Hence, where a disorder is maintained, reason and observation both 
indicate that the structural condition is the factor that prevents a 
return to normal functioning. The question, therefore, is not as 
to the original force that caused the disorder, but why does not the 
sick man get well? 

It is just as much a normal power of the organism to return 

74 



DISEASE MAINTAINED BY STRUCTURE 75 

to normal functioning as it is to maintain functional equilibrium 
manifest in the ordinary healthful life. It is in fact impossible to 
differentiate between the two. An excess of carbon dioxid is a 
normal stimulus to the removal of that excess. The organism re- 
stores its proper function largely through the medium of stimuli 
furnished by its own katabolic products. The presence of other 
substances not nutritive in character, e. g., bacterial products, pro- 
duces a similar result. 

Whether through ages of adaptation and from hereditary trans- 
mission or from inherent endowment co-equal with life itself, the 
fact that this self -protective power exists may be affirmed with little 
probability of error ; and that function is self -regulative while struc- 
ture is only less responsive to the same forces is equally certain. 
Hence in the ordinary disorder that seems beyond the limits of self- 
restoration we -must logically look to the structural condition for 
the factor maintaining the disorder. Experience has shown that 
little in addition is needed, for with the average individual the aver- 
age environment constitutes a normal condition. With such an 
environment to which the individual has long been accustomed the 
organism is master of the situation and needs only freedom to exer- 
cise its restorative powers. 

The truth of these considerations is evident in case of chronic 
disorder. But they are no less true if less evident in acute condi- 
tions. It is said that 95 per cent, of acute cases get well whether 
they are treated or not. This does not argue for a policy of non- 
interference. For osteopathic experience shows unquestionably that 
the reparative forces may be given greater freedom for action by 
appropriate treatment. In general the length of time required by 
the unaided organism to restore normal conditions may be lessened 
one-half. What is the philosophy of the treatment under such cir- 
cumstances? Under the influence of visceral disease reflex mus- 
cular contractions lead to disturbed spinal relations, and secondary 
lesions are produced. This structural perversion is a further cause 
of functional perversion, and may prevent or delay recovery from 
the original disease, or may cause other and more chronic diseased 
conditions, perhaps in other viscera. 

Hence by keeping the structural condition normal the total time 
for recovery is apparently shortened. If this assistance is not given 
the organism recovers in most cases unaided. But in others the 



76 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

disease becomes chronic not because the disease itself or the envi- 
ronment or habit of the patient is necessarily an insurmountable 
hindrance, but because the inert structure which was disturbed has 
become fixed in its relations. 

It is not always necessary to assume that the perverted struc- 
ture arose as a secondary result. It is enough to note that in many 
cases there exists a deranged structural condition which, not of 
itself capable of producing marked disorder, yet causes lessened 
resistance to extraordinary stimuli, and, when the disease results 
from the latter, prevents a complete response to the new conditions 
by interfering with normal nerve or blood action. In such cases 
the structural difficulty is part of the original cause of the disease 
in that it represents a predisposition. It becomes the principal if 
not the entire factor which prevents a ready return to normal. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE LESION 

By osteopathic usage the word lesion has acquired special sig- 
nificance. The surgical conception of lesion, any hurt or injury to 
a part, and the pathological concept, any local or circumscribed 
area of tissue undergoing abnormal functional changes, must be 
carefully distinguished from the osteopathic concept which is any 
structural perversion which produces or maintains functional dis- 
order. Note first that the definition includes all tissues. While it 
is true that the bony lesion occupies first place by virtue of history 
and importance, muscular and ligamentous perversions are rivals 
of the former for pre-eminence. A viscus may act as a lesion, and 
among the most serious of diseases are those directly dependent 
upon pressure from prolapsed viscera. In the second place note 
that the structure must be perverted, that is, has departed from the 
usual or average condition. Third, note that the condition of func- 
tion is included in the conception of lesion. This is of fundamental 
importance. From what has been said in a previous section it can 
be understood that a structure may be perverted in the sense of 
being unusual and still not be a cause for change of function. This 
variation is still within the limits of normal adaptation. A spine 
may have its curves markedly exaggerated or completely obliterated 
and the functional conditions still remain normal. To make of it 
a lesion in the osteopathic sense there must be included the idea of 
functional disorder as a consequence of the structural perversion. 

The perverted structural condition may be a disturbed positional 
relation of parts. These may be further classified into (a) disloca- 
tion, which usually refers to bony tissue and represents a condition 
in which there is a complete separation of the articular surfaces. 
An example of this class would be a hip dislocation, (b) Sublux- 
ation, also usually referring to bony structures but in which there is 
an incomplete separation of the articular surfaces, is a second type. 
A rib is more commonly subluxated than dislocated, (c) Displace- 
ment is more commonly applied to yielding structures and especially 
viscera in which there are no well marked or special articulating 

77 



78 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

surfaces. It is more appropriate to speak of a displaced uterus 
than of a sub luxated or dislocated one. (d) The lesion may be in 
the nature of contraction or contracture, more especially of muscu- 
lar tissue. While it is true that all living tissue is more or less 
susceptible to change in shape through the phenomenon of contrac- 
tion, muscle tissue because of its specially developed power in this 
particular must occupy first place. While the contraction is a posi- 
tion change it is also a size change and might appropriately be 
considered in the next division. For there is undoubtedly in the 
majoritj^ of chronic muscular contractures an increase in the total 
bulk of the muscle though not necessarily in the amount of mus- 
cular fiber. 

(Studies made of such muscles by Dr. C. P. McConnell and in 
the laboratories of the A. T. Still Research Institute show that the 
first changes include edema, hemorrhage per diapedsin, and cloudy 
swelling. There is diminished alkalinity, and the condition of the 
muscles resembles that of early rigor mortis. After some months, 
an increase in the connective tissue elements occurs, many of the 
muscular fibers atrophy, the muscle shortens, and the condition 
properly called "contracture" is produced.) 

In the second place the disorder may be a disturbed size relation 
of parts. These may be also further classified into (a) lesions from 
overgrowth. In the case of a hypertrophied heart or a thoracic 
aneurism direct pressure is exerted upon the lungs and other tho- 
racic ftructures with resulting disorder of the function, (b) Arrest- 
ed gro'vth and (c) atrophy are less common conditions but are 
occasionally noted. In the case of an atrophied liver the resulting 
disturbance of associated abdominal viscera may be directly depend- 
ent upon the size disturbance, (d) Perverted growths, as in the 
case of exostoses and tumors which are special forms of overgrowth 
conditions, are considered as lesions. 

The Causes of Lesions 

For purposes of convenience the causes of lesions may be class- 
ified into external or environmental, and internal. Among the for- 
mer the most common is mechanical violence such as a blow, a fall, 
a mechanical shock or jar to the organism produced in whatever 
way. It will be found on inquiring into the history of a vast number 



THE LESION 79 

of cases of disease that the onset of the disorder was noticed soon 
after having suffered the violence, and owing to this fact it is always 
the part of wisdom to inquire carefully into the history of the case. 

Mechanical 

These mechanical causes act alike in producing bony, muscular, 
ligamentous or visceral lesions. A prolapsed uterus is often found 
to have its cause in a sudden mechanical jarring of the body. A 
subluxated rib is a common result of direct pressure from without 
such as might occur in the strenuous periods of a football game 
or the less intense but more prolonged compression of certain steel 
braces constituting a part of the wardrobe of fashionable woman. 
A sudden attempt to protect one's self from falling accounts for 
a strained muscle, a sprained articulation, or a subluxated vertebra. 

Thermal 

Another important external cause is that of temperature change. 
In order that a thermal condition shall produce its effect on respon- 
sive tissue it must be a sudden change and usually a change from 
a higher to a lower temperature. While experimental physiology 
indicates the possibility of a contracted muscle dependent on a 
change from a lower to a higher temperature, little evidence has 
been produced to show that a similar condition is produced in the 
normal living human body under those circumstances. Lack of 
evidence however does not prove that the contraction may not be 
brought about in the way suggested. With regard to the production 
of contracted muscles resulting from sudden exposure to cold atmos- 
phere or a cold draught, all osteopaths are agreed in emphatic 
affirmation. The primary effect in point of time and importance, 
then, will be the production of a muscular lesion. But remember- 
ing the intimate relation existing between muscles and other tissues 
it is easily understood how a bony or ligamentous lesion may come 
about as a consequence of a muscular contracture or chronic con- 
traction. A muscle cannot contract without an approximation of 
the structures to which the muscle is attached. Hence if it be a 
spinal muscle a vertebral lesion will be produced, or if it attaches 
to a rib that structure will be depressed or otherwise disturbed. 



80 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

Internal Causes 

Of the internal causes of lesions posture of the body may be 
mentioned though perhaps with equal propriety it might be classed 
under external causes. Especially is this operative in the case of 
children and young people, the most common form of lesion which 
results being a curvature of the spine. Any cramped or distorted 
position assumed for long periods at a time will with a fair degree 
of certainty result in a gradual change of parts. The continual 
bending over the desk at school is undoubtedly accountable for 
numerous spinal disorders. Professions and trades which require the 
assumption of peculiar positions furnish their quota of patients with 
characteristic lesions. The dorsal inclination of the head in the 
process of lathing a ceiling, the flexed position in shoveling, and 
the stooping of the compositor at his case are all illustrations of 
the point. In all of these there is a uniform force continuously 
acting in a definite direction, the inevitable result being in the case 
of yielding human tissue, definite changes in structure. 

Nutritional disturbances are internal causes which comprehend 
a variety of specific conditions such as congestions, and anaemic 
states, and nerve irritations. These in most cases are further de- 
pendent upon an adjacent structure and it becomes necessary to 
seek for the cause of the congestion. An overworked organ through 
a resulting hypertrophy of its tissue becomes a lesion. Not only 
do viscera act as lesions from congestive conditions but a muscle 
may become contracted through impulses transmitted by reflex 
pathways from the viscus. In practically every acute case with 
which the osteopath comes in contact there are found muscle con- 
tractions, in part primary to the disease, in part secondary to it. 
By the known anatomical facts of central association between spinal 
nerves and visceral nerves, and the known physiological fact of 
the radiation of impulses from one part of the spinal cord to another, 
a reasonable explanation is not difficult. Afferent impulses aroused 
by a disturbed viscus are transmitted to the spinal cord from which 
efferent impulses, motor or vasomotor, pass to the spinal muscles. 
That such an explanation is reasonable is further suggested by ref- 
erence to Head's law relating to sensory nerves. This law suggests 
an intimate relation between afferent nerves closely connected cen- 
trally; and the histology of the spinal cord shows a close structural 
relationship between sensory and motor centers, while experiments 



THE LESION 81 

and clinical evidence prove from a functional standpoint equally 
close central connection between an afferent visceral nerve and an 
efferent motor nerve. Congestion or other nutritional disturbances 
in the muscle tissue do undoubtedly lead to contraction of muscles. 
(Animal experiments prove that irritation of viscera, such as may 
be due to visceral disease, cause reflex contractions of the spinal 
muscles, often such as to cause recognizable spinal lesions. See the 
Bulletins of the A. T. Still Research Institute.) Experimental in- 
vestigation in the laboratory shows that weak acids may be efficient 
Stimuli for the contraction, and it is noted that just such a condition 
is present in venous congestion or in the fatigued muscles. Venous 
blood, always less alkaline than arterial, becomes appreciably acid 
under various circumstances of the organism, due to the presence 
of carbonic or sarcolactic acid, the latter a common product of 
katabolism. In fatigue of muscle from overwork or other cause 
we have conditions entirely favorable for the production of the 
special form of contraction which is well known to the osteopath. 
Here the excess of katabolic waste including the sarcolactic acid 
referred to may easily be sufficient to produce the effect. On the 
other hand ancemic conditions may easily be responsible for abnor- 
mal states of the muscle and the cause of the lesion, though this is 
perhaps a more debatable proposition. 



CHAPTER XVI 

MAINTENANCE OF THE LESION 

Emphasis has been given to the fact that structural perversion 
is responsible for disordered function ; that both external and inter- 
nal forces may produce the structural change; and that the organ- 
ism itself is usually able to effect readjustment after the immediate 
causal factor ceases to operate. Why is the organism not successful 
in all cases? Why does the lesion persist? 

If the physician is careful in his observation he will find that in 
a large number of cases, especially of an acute nature, there are 
numerous secondary lesions present more or less continuously 
throughout the course of the disease; he will further notice that 
in many of these cases both perverted function and secondary lesion 
disappear whether treatment be given or not. What causes or forces 
or conditions are present in those who become normal that are lack- 
ing in the numerous cases where the perversion is not thus self- 
corrected? This question cannot yet be answered unequivocally, 
but as further observation is made and deeper study given several 
suggestions offer themselves which serve to explain the difficulty. 

In the case of a dislocation in the surgical meaning of that term 
there is little about which an issue might be raised. For instance, in 
a dorsum dislocation of the hip the head of the femur lies entirely 
outside the acetabulum, from which it is separated by a marked 
ridge of unyielding tissue which is an effective barrier to adjust- 
ment. In a complete dislocation of the cervical vertebra there is 
present a condition thus described by Scudder: ''In this unilateral 
dislocation of the cervical vertebra an articular process slips over 
the articular process below it and either catches upon the top of 
the lower articular process or slips down in front of it."^ Here 
there is manifestly sufficient change in the mechanical relations 
of the processes to prevent self-adjustment, irrespective of any 
muscle tension that may be associated. But the case may be quite 
different in the ordinary spinal lesion where the condition is not 



^Scudder: The Treatment of Fractures with Notes Upon a few Com- 
mon Displacements. 

82 



MAINTENANCE OF THE LESION 83 

a dislocation but a subluxation, and in many cases almost inappre- 
ciable to touch. It is in such lesions as these that the question arises 
as to what factor or factors prevent a return to normal. 

In presenting the suggested explanations it is necessary to 
divide the cases into two classes, these lesions due to the thermal 
or other change which initiate muscular contraction as the primary 
perversion, and those caused by sudden violence which immediately 
produce definite strain and displacement of practically all the parts 
comprising the articulation. In the former class, so far as the simple 
uncomplicated contraction is concerned, that should disappear just 
as soon as the stimulus (cold for example) is removed, and hence 
the case will hardly require attention. But experience and abstract 
theory both indicate that in numerous cases the muscular lesion is 
not a simple one. As a result of the shortening of the muscle, deeper 
structures are disarranged which are an added factor to consider 
in investigating the lesion. For instance, the contraction of the 
serratus posticus inferior produces a depression of the lower four 
ribs. This in turn disturbs the articular structures in connection 
with the transverse processes and bodies of the vertebras. These 
include the entire connective tissue structures, not merely the syno- 
vial membranes and the specialized ligamentous tissue. In this case 
if the original stimulus to contraction is immediately removed, the 
muscle relaxes and no harm results. But if that original stimulus 
be not removed, or, what is more likely, the disturbance of the 
deeper structures causes impairment of the muscle's blood and 
nerve control, the contraction persists so long as the deeper struc- 
tural disorder persists. But note that this deeper condition is not 
likely to remain merely as a tensed or strained articulation. Tension 
and strain produce irritation, irritation results in congestion, con- 
gestion is associated with edema and a large number of abnormal 
local conditions. When the case has reached this stage essentially 
the same factors are presented as are considered in the second class 
of cases referred to above, these lesions due to a definite and abrupt 
traumatism, as in the case of a fall, blow, or strain. Hence the 
further course of the two classes are identical. 

What occurs when a joint is sprained*? DaCosta thus describes 
the morbid state: "In a bad sprain ligaments are torn; the synovial 
membrane is contused or crushed; cartilages are loosened or sep- 
arated; hemorrhage takes place into and about the joint; muscles 



84 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

and tendons are stretched, displaced or lacerated ; vessels and nerves 
are damaged; the skin is often contused; and portions of the bone 
or cartilage may be detached from their proper habitat, though 
still adhering to a ligament or tendon.'" Note that following the 
accident, unless motion be produced at rather frequent intervals 
a stiff joint is the result. What is the occasion for this rigidity? 
Adhesions and thickenings of the joint structures are undoubtedly 
responsible. Adhesions usually begin while the inflammatory state 
is still active, which is also true of overgrowth conditions. Hence 
this complication of the original displacement is present almost 
from the beginning. There can be little question that such a state 
of affairs exists in numberless spinal lesions. For in connection 
with the spine are scores of articulations, each of which is continu- 
ally subject to the identical twists and wrenches that produce the 
striking effects in case of the sprained ankle. The less noticeable 
character of these sprains is sufficiently explained by the compara- 
tively small size of any individual articulation. In the case of a 
sprained spine, a lesion due to sudden force, the factor that prevents 
correct readjustment is certainly not simple muscle contraction; 
it is principally due to definite change in position, size and smooth- 
ness of the more intimate articulating structures, these changes in 
turn dependent upon congestive and edematous processes resulting 
from the initial strain. 

Is it true of the condition inaugurated by simple muscular con- 
traction? If the latter produces sufficient tension of the deep tis- 
sues, there is no question that it is true, though perhaps not so 
marked in degree. If the muscle contraction is sufficient to ser- 
iously disturb the relative position of the articular structures, it 
is also sufficient to set up the series of changes suggested above. 
If the condition were due only to the difference in muscular ten- 
sion then we are justified in the massage of muscles so often em- 
ployed by not a few practitioners. As a matter of fact the masseur 
occasionally produces favorable results. He does it in those com- 
paratively few cases where muscle contraction is the sole factor, 
or where his work is sufficiently deep to effect a real adjustment. 

Essentially then, the proposition reduces to one to which refer- 
ence must continually be made, namely that muscle tissue is self- 
adjustive, and so soon as the stimulus to contraction is removed 



^DaCosta: Modern Surgery. 



MAINTENANCE OF THE LESION 85 

there is little if any necessity for direct relaxing measures. The 
deeper tissues — bone, cartilage and other connective tissues which 
are less capable of self-adjustment — are the structures which by 
virtue of their size, irregularities, and roughened surfaces, immedi- 
ately prevent a return to the normal. They may impair the vascu- 
lar or nervous state of other tissues, including muscle, and these 
may be irregularly tensed and thus help in maintaining the lesion. 
In conclusion it will be noted that in all likelihood no single 
factor maintains the lesion. Just as practically every spinal lesion 
involves bone, ligament, and muscle, so the persistent nature of the 
lesion is due to more than one factor. 



CHAPTER XVII 

MEDIA THROUGH WHICH LESIONS PRODUCE DISEASE 

1. Direct pressure may cause the organ to be involved in dis- 
ease. A rib or ribs may be depressed thereby pressing directly 
upon the lungs, or preventing their normal expansion, resulting in 
immediate disorder or a lessened resistance to specific infection. 
A floating kidney may press directly upon the bowels thereby induc- 
ing constipation or other trouble. The pyriformis muscle or others 
closely associated may in contraction impinge directly upon the sci- 
atic nerve causing a neuritis. 

2. Pressure upon the artery which supplies it causes an angemic 
condition of the organ and a possible secondary hyperemia of some 
closely associated part. By virtue of a torsion of the cervical ver- 
tebra with a consequent tightening and thickening of the interverte- 
bral ligaments, the blood flow through the intervertebral artery is 
hindered and the spinal cord suffers. An approximated condition 
of the upper ribs impairs the arterial supply to the mammary gland 
and the secretion of milk is hindered. An abdominal tumor or a 
pregnant uterus impinges on the renal arteries and kidney trouble 
is experienced. 

3. Pressure upon the vein which drains it causes a hyperemia 
of the organ with a possible secondary anaemia of closely associated 
structures. A depressed sternum and anterior ends of clavicle and 
first rib through pressure upon the inferior thyroid is one cause 
of goitre. A tightened muscular and ligamentous condition about 
the saphenous opening may cause varicose veins. Muscular contrac- 
tion in the cervical region interferes with the drainage of the cephalic 
structures and headache results. In cirrhosis of the liver an ob- 
struction to the portal system occurs with a resulting abdominal 
dropsy and a secondary anaemia of other parts of the body. 

4. The organ may be disordered by pressure upon the lymph 
channels with which it is associated, thereby producing innumerable 
disordered conditions through the interference with nutritive and 
sewerage functions, and by a secondary process materially affecting 
the general vascular system. 

86 



MliDIA THROUGH WHICH LliSIONS FRODUCIi DISEASE 87 

5. Pressure upon a nerve directly or reflexly connected with 
it causes disorder of the organ. The heart may be interfered with 
Dy tightened ligaments or edementous areas causing pressure upon 
the cardiac accelerators which issue from the spinal cord from the 
first to the fourth thoracic segments. It may be involved in disorder 
by a disturbed uterine condition, in vrhich case it is a reflex effect. 
Or the accelerators may carry too many or too rapid impulses to 
the heart dependent on contracted spinal muscles in the upper tho- 
racic area, this being also a case of disturbance dependent upon 
reflex action. Note the physiological law that the total activity of 
a segment of the spinal cord varies directly with the algebraic sum 
of impulses passing to it. Note the extreme number and variety of 
effects possible from nerve disturbance. A sensory impingement 
usually produces pain, direct or referred to other fields. Every 
sensory nerve is a possible pathway for impulses setting in motion 
a vasomotor change; hence anaemic or hypergemic conditions may 
result. These impulses may also initiate excessive activity of the 
sweat glands and hence perspiration becomes abnormal. The nerve 
may carry the impulse which inaugurates the change in any efferent 
channel and hence motion may be increased or decreased, secretion 
accelerated or depressed, inhibition modified, trophicity lessened. 
All of these effects are dependent on interference with afferent or 
sensory nerves. On the other hand the efferent channels themselves 
are equally subject to interruption, while any change in the nutri- 
tive condition of a segment of the spinal cord or a center in the 
brain affects to a greater or less degree all nerve pathways in direct 
or reflex connection with them. The medium of nerve interference 
is without doubt the most important with which we deal. 

Through these several media we may explain with greater or 
less satisfaction the varied results that have been observed to follow 
a lesion. The difficulty lies in determining in each individual case 
which of the several explanations is the true one — a difficulty at 
once apparent and in many cases insurmountable. It must be noted 
that a lesion sufficient to produce impingement on one of the chan- 
nels is sufficient to affect another, so that in most cases we will have 
more than one of the channels interrupted and hence the greater 
possibility of extreme effects. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

VARYING EFFECTS OF LESIONS 

The extent of the lesion bears no constant relation to the inten- 
sity or extent of the effect. Note the case of the hnnch-back whose 
lesion condition is quite apparent and great in extent. Yet in manj' 
cases his health is not markedly impaired. On the other hand a 
slight strain at the articulation between the eleventh and twelfth 
thoracic vertebrae has resulted in immediate nephritis of a very 
serious nature. The strain was barely noticeable on palpation or in- 
spection, yet the effect was far reaching. Several facts suggest an 
explanation of the condition. The effect varies directly with the 
functional activity of the tissue interfered with. If a lesion brings 
pressure upon simple connective tissue little result may be looked 
for. The connective tissue is comparatively inert. If the pressure be 
upon nerve tissue the result is far-reaching. Nerve tissue is most 
active. It is developed with the special end in view of furnishing a 
material quick to respond to stimuli and capable of conducting the 
impulse to other parts of the body. Hence a lesser intensity of stim- 
ulus from pressure will be necessary to cause response than in con- 
nective tissue and a much more rapid transmission of the impulse will 
also result. A muscle impinged upon, less active than nerve in re- 
spect to readiness of response and speed of propagation, is associ- 
ated with less immediate effect. An artery involved is more likely to 
result in disorder than is some other structure because of a wider in- 
fluence and a more ready response to pressure. 

Adaptation 

Again the adjustment possibilities of the structure involved in 
lesion are important factors in modifying the response, and this 
is in turn largely dependent on the abruptness and strength of the 
stimulus, i. e., the pressure from the lesion. A lesion produced 
gradually, as is true in most cases of curvature of the spine, does 
not constitute a change sufficient to be effective as a stimulus. Note 
that it is an abrupt change of pressures that constitutes a mechan- 
ical stimulus. In the case, then, of the posterior curvature — the 
extreme kyphosis — the pressure has been so gradually applied that 

88 



VARYING KFFKCTS OF LESIONS 89 

tlie structures in contact were not stimulated l)ut were able to adapt 
themselves to the gradually changing conditions. It is a recognized 
rule in physiology that a change sufficient to produce a response in 
a tissue if continuously applied will later fail to produce such re- 
sponse. The tissue has adapted itself to the stimulus and is not 
further affected thereby. In the case of the sudden wrench of an 
articulation causing nephritis the change in pressures was so in- 
tense and so abrupt as to constitute a very efficient stimulus so that 
the extreme result was brought about. It must be noted however 
that ultimately further adjustment will be impossible and the tissue 
must respond. Note that finally the hunch-back succumbs to con- 
ditions much less severe than would be the case if the spine were 
normal. The summation of stimuli may help in the explanation of 
such conditions. A stimulus ineffective at first, by repeated opera- 
tion may cause such an accumulation of effect as to result in a dis- 
charge. The evil effects of the abnormal spinal condition, grad- 
ually and constantly active, lower the resistance of the entire body 
and finally produce a summation of evils with resulting disaster. 



Varying Symptoms 

2.. Another important fact that must be noted is that the 
region of apparent disturbance is not necessarily or usually the 
seat of the lesion. While this statement applies with more force 
Lo the subjective disturbance of pain yet it is noted in others not 
subjective. With respect to pain, it is sufficient to refer to a later 
chapter in which is discussed the condition of transferred pain. 
At present note that the pain caused by an irritation may be felt 
in. any part of the distribution or course of the nerve irritated. In 
pressure at the elbow upon the ulna pain is not only felt at that 
point of pressure but also in many cases most markedly in the fin- 
gers, i. e., where the nerves are specially developed for receiving 
stimuli. A lesion in the spine by pressure on fibers forming the 
intercostals may produce pain felt over the anterior surface of 
the chest or abdomen. Hilton's rule that pain felt superficially 
and not accompanied by a local rise in temperature indicates a 
spinal origin of the pain, is interesting and helpful, especially to 
osteopaths. Especially is this likely to be the origin if the pain be 
symmetrical, i. e., on both sides of the median line at corresponding 



90 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

points. An associated local rise in temperature together with other 
evidences of local inflammation indicates the latter as the probable 
immediate irritant. 

Reflex Effects 

But the application can be made to no other than pain condi- 
tions. Note that a pelvic lesion primarily affecting the uterus may 
cause symptoms only with the heart, palpitation of that organ 
being a quite common result. In this case the patient and physician 
would naturally assume that the heart was primarily at fault. But 
experience suggests that it is otherwise, the heart being affected 
through the complicated mechanism of reflex activity. The im- 
pulses from a disturbed uterus are carried by the sensory nerves to 
the centers in the spinal cord, and the abnormal action of these 
centers affects other spinal centers. Impulses from these disturbed 
centers pass by way of the gray rami fibers and the sympathetic 
ganglia to the heart or other viscera. But why should the heart 
be thus involved and not some other organ? In answer it may be 
said that in other cases and at times in the same case it is another 
organ. Byron Eobinson's suggestion that it is dependent on a con- 
dition analogous to an electric arrangement is suggestive but un- 
satisfactory in that there are too many exceptions. His suggestion 
is that that organ Avill be involved reflexly which is connected to the 
primary organ by the greatest number of nerve strands. Unfortu- 
nately he does not show that such is the case. Personally the author 
prefers another explanation in which there are noticed few excep- 
tions and those perhaps only apparent. Under the circumstances 
of a perfectly normal condition of every other organ of the body, 
little disturbance if any results when one is affected. But in most 
cases some one or more organs are in an irritable state. In such a 
case a nerve impulse coming from the organ primarily involved is 
an effective cause of perverted function in the irritable organ. 
Hence the statement may be made after this manner: that organ 
will be involved reflexly which is in the more irritable condition. 
The excess of irritability in one organ over that in another depends 
to a slight extent only upon inherent capacity, and in much greater 
part upon a disturbed nutrition dependent on an associated lesion, 
in case of a reflex disorder, then, we must look for an additional 
cause in the way of predisposition. In the majority of cases exper- 



VARYING EFFECTS OF LESIONS 91 

ience shows that the predisposition results from a lesion in the 
region of the source of nutrition for the organ. Hence in case of 
the palpitation resulting from uterine disorder a lesion should be 
found in the region of innervation of the heart, or in those structures 
which may directly affect the heart. And such is the case. The 
reflex impulse is but the exciting cause, the lesion the predisposing; 
neither alone being sufficient to destroy the cardiac equilibrium 
but acting conjointly they are able so to do. 

It is a question whether a large number of so called reflex dis- 
orders should be considered reflex except in the manner suggested 
above. The occipital headache from uterine displacement is much 
more likely to occur if there be a local lesion deranging the ceph- 
alic circulation ; the headache resulting from gastric disorder usually 
presents cervical lesions sufficient to cause the disturbance to ap- 
pear; even the vomiting of pregnancy is often in direct proportion 
to the abnormal previous condition of the stomach. Hence, let none 
rest content with the diagnosis of a ''reflex effect." Prove that the 
local structural conditions are normal before sentencing the reflex 
mechanism as the sole cause for the disturbance. 



CHAPTER XIX 

ABUSE OF FUNCTION 

Osteopaths make no claim that there are no possible disease 
conditions from other than structural perversions. Any one will 
recognize the fact that by abuse of any organ or its function abnor- 
mal action may result. Indeed every life is a continued fluctuation 
between a normal and an abnormal condition, so that it becomes 
evident that disease is but a relative term. If a continued excess 
of carbon dioxid in the blood constitutes a disease, shall we decide 
that the amount necessary to arouse increased respiratory activity 
is a disease? That condition continues for an appreciable length 
of time and in so far as it does it is a normal stimulus to the respir- 
atory activity, it is not to be considered disease. The organism is 
able to adjust its functioning immediately. What is true in the case 
of respiration is true of the body as a whole. The struggle between 
organism and environment is a ceaseless one in which the organism 
is usually triumphant, but there are times when abnormal factors 
m the environment temporarily gain the supremacy. In these eases 
enough of a departure from normal is apparent to be dignified by 
the term disease. It is this condition that is present in abuse of an 
organ or its function. Excess of food, overwork of muscle, contam- 
inated air, all represent what is foreign to the organism, and as 
such stimulates it to an unusual response. In the vast majority of 
cases the organism is victor though no external aid is given. At 
least 95 per cent, of acute cases are overcome without treatment of 
any kind. In such cases the full responsive power is usually exert- 
ed in the attempt to overcome. If the stimulus is too intense or pro- 
longed, death results. The duty of the physician in such cases 
is to secure and maintain such a condition of organism and environ- 
ment as allows the fullest freedom to the responsive power of the 
organism. Of prime importance in this connection is the prevention 
and overcoming of secondary lesions. This with additional attention 
to known laws of hygiene and sanitation usually suffice to enable 
a return to the usual grade of organic action. 

Time Relations 

The abuse that causes disease may be overuse in time relations. 
That is, the organ functioning through too great a proportion of 

92 



ABUSli OF FUNCTION 93 

the allotted time to allow for repair will ultimately l)e disturbed. 
This disturbance may be in the nature of a hypertrophy. An over- 
used muscle will become enlarged, as in case of the heart after 
valvular disorder. The liver in an individual who constantly over- 
eats will ultimately be somewhat increased in size. The constant 
abuse of the stomach may result in a thickening mucosa. In many 
of these cases the hypertrophy is in part physiological; for instance 
the hypertrophied heart is a necessity under the existing circum- 
stances, i. e., the inefficient valve. At the same time it is secured 
at the expense of a continuous tendency toward the production of 
disorder in neighboring structures, for instance impaired respira- 
tion dependent on lung pi-essure from the enlarged heart. 

Secondly, exhaustion is a common result from abuse in point 
of time. In the case of the enlarged heart, so long as compensation is 
maintained little difficulty may be experienced, but usually the 
time comes when all reserve forces have been drawn upon, the heart 
is no longer able to increase its substance to meet the increased de- 
mands, and exhaustion of its energy and substance rapidly follows. 
The gastric glands, continually called upon to do excessive work, 
finally yield to the inevitable and fail to supply the requisite amount 
of digestive fluids. In any of these cases a third condition is likely 
to result, that of atrophy. In this connection note the wasting of 
heart muscle during the period of broken compensation, the thin- 
ning and waste of substance in the walls of the stomach, or the 
final condition of atrophy and degeneration in an overworked liver. 

Intensity 

Again the abuse may be overuse in intensity. Apoplexy result- 
ing from sudden increase in blood pressure from overexercise of 
body or mind is a case in point. Aneurism is similarly caused. 
Excessive lifting, athletic efforts and the like, may produce strains 
and ruptures in various of the body tissues. This is not limited to 
those cases where a pre-existing weakness makes the sudden strain 
effective, as, for instance, the usual arterio-sclerosis in those indi- 
viduals subject to apoplectic attacks; but where the strain itself is 
the primary and perhaps the sole causal factor. It is immaterial 
whether the predisposition exists; the strain is an abuse under any 
circumstances. 

Diminished Functions 

Instead of overuse constituting the abuse, under use may result 



94 



PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 



in a disorder. It is a well known fact that a muscle kept inactive 
for a considerable period will gradually waste away. This is not 
true of muscle only. It seems to be a fundamental biological law 
that the structure unused becomes incapable of use, and if certain 
theories of evolution be accepted we may explain the gradual dis- 
appearance of structures in man and other animals on the basis of 
disuse. Note in the case of the lungs of an individual who contracts 
"'lazy habits of breathing," that they are much more susceptible 
to disorders than are those of him who breathes naturally and deep- 
ly. The apices are the regions of lung tissue most commonly in- 
volved in tuberculosis and they are involved first in point of time. 
The apex is the least exercised of all parts. The two facts may 
be closely associated. Again, proteid food substances furnish a 
most efficient stimulus to the secretion of pepsin by the gastric 
glands. The consumption of predigested, peptonized foods may 
constitute a definite abuse though furnishing lessened exercise of 
the peptic glands with a consequent atrophy of these structures. 

Perversions 
Finally reference may be made to abuse in the form of per- 
verted use of function. The teeth are structures designed to grind 
the food materials. If that function is given to the stomach through 
improper mastication, there is a perverted use of the stomach. Life 
in an environment of impure air, noxious vapors, and dust particles 
constitutes an abuse of the respiratory function. According to the 
report of witnesses in the recent coal strike investigation one of 
the causes of the shortened life period of the coal miner is the 
continued inhalation of coal dust. Post-mortems of those who hai^e 
worked for long periods in an atmosphere charged with metal or 
other particles show the induration of the lungs from deposit of the 
material as a factor in the cause of death. Mouth breathing is a 
perversion and is accountable for occasional disorders of the res- 
piratory, or upper part of the digestive channel. The introduction 
into the body through any pathway, of a material foreign to the 
organism constitutes a perversion. Hence, drugs taken into the 
alimentary canal, pathogenic bacteria with their toxins, and all 
other forms of poisoning constitute abuse conditions in the nature 
of perverted use. In a large number of such cases the cause is of 
an exciting character, a predisposition being present which impairs 
the responsive power of the organism. This is especially true of 
micro-organisms, a discussion of which is given in a further chapter. 



CHAPTER XX 

PREDISPOSING AND EXCITING CAUSES OF DISEASE 

The causes of disease may further be classified in accordance 
with their relative capacity to produce disorder without the aid of 
any other factors, predisposing and exciting. This classifica- 
tion is not an absolute one but may be used with advantage for 
purposes of convenience and better understanding. A predisposing 
cause is any condition of the organism or its environment which, 
while not producing sufficient disorder to constitute disease, renders 
the organism more susceptible to other causes. As illustrations of 
such may be mentioned the following ; In hay fever two conditions 
seem to be essential in the production of the characteristic sj'-mptom, 
an irritable condition of the nasal mucosa and a specific irritant, 
as pollen from certain plants, dust particles and the like. The weak- 
ness is more or less continuously present, the specific irritant only 
at special periods. In this case the irritable mucosa with whatever 
has caused that condition, as a lesion in the cervical region, consti- 
tutes the predisposing cause, the pollen or dust particles represent- 
ing the exciting cause. Neither of these two is capable alone of 
producing the attack but acting conjointly are sufficient. The small 
boy is noted for his craving for green apples. If a lesion be present 
in his splanchnic region and he indulges the craving only moder- 
ately, an attack of cholera morbus is the result. In this case the 
green apple represents the final aggravation added to a stomach 
already weakened from vasomotor disturbance maintained by the 
splanchnic lesion. A depressed thoracic region, by limiting the am- 
plitude of the respiratory movements, renders the lungs less able 
to resist tuberculosis infection, the tubercle bacillus acting as the 
immediate cause of pulmonary consumption, the former the predis- 
position to the disorder. Rigidity of the lower thoracic area of the 
spinal column diminishes resistance to infection, and correction of 
this lesion increases immunity.^ Pulmonary troubles tend to run 
in families. It is not the inheritance of the specific condition but 
the peculiarity of structure. Most reflex disorders are satisfactorily 
explained from this double cause standpoint. For instance, a com- 



^C. A. Whiting: Opsonic Index as Affected by Mechanical Stimulation, 
and other reports. 

95 



96 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

mon accompaniment of uterine disorder is palpitation of the heart. 
Such a disturbed heart rate is much more likely in an individual 
with a spinal lesion in the cardiac area than in one whose heart 
control is not interfered with. 

Age, sex, temperament, and race, relating to the organism; and 
climate, season, atmospheric and other environmental circumstances 
may constitute predisposing causes or occasions. It is common 
knowledge that children are more susceptible than adults to measles 
or scarlet fever, while arterio-sclerosis, paralysis agitans, and num- 
erous other disorders affect only the adult or aged. The peculiar 
condition of the organism at these different periods constitutes a 
predisposition. The negro race is more susceptible to tuberculosis 
and less to yellow fever and malaria than is the Caucasian ; and this 
by virtue of some inherent difference in the organism which is 
without satisfactory explanation. Climate is accountable for special 
disorders. Catarrhal affections of the respiratory tract are common 
in cold, damp, and changeable localities, while typhoid and other 
fever conditions are associated with late summer and autumn, in 
each case predisposing to the onset of the disease through the 
agency of various exciting stimuli. 

A point to be noted in this connection is the fact of what may 
be conveniently spoken of as a reversibility of causes. That is, a 
lesion which in one set of circumstances constitutes a predisposition, 
may in another be an excitant. Note the case in hay fever. An 
individual manifests a lesion in the cervical region but no symptoms, 
until the season when pollen is plentiful, when the attack is initiated. 
In this case the lesion is predisposing, the pollen exciting, to the 
disorder. Another individual continuously living in a pollen-laden 
atmosphere is unaffected thereby. But a lesion is produced, when 
the attack at once supervenes. Thus predisposition and excitant 
have been reversed. Climate conditions may be the excitant or a 
predisposing cause. In the first case a lesion is present rendering 
the nasal tissues susceptible to the influence of sudden changes 
of temperature, the latter being the excitant of the disorder ; on the 
other hand an individual living in a changeable climate is predis- 
posed to catarrhal disorders by virtue of the environment, the 
catarrhal condition itself being excited on the production of a spe- 
cific lesion. An individual with a normal splanchnic region may 
continually abuse his stomach by overeating and still no gastric 



PREDISPOSING AND EXCITING CAUSES OF DISEASE 97 

disturbance result, but on the production of a lesion disorder soon 
becomes manifest; on the other hand an individual with a lesion 
in his splanchnic region may show no marked evidence of stomach 
trouble but on abuse of his stomach by dietetic errors disease occurs. 

It is to be noted further that while a predisposing cause of dis- 
ease usually is not sufficient to produce the disease, an excitement 
may produce it with or without the addition of the other factor. 
While it is much more likely that disease will result from the eating 
of green apples in the case of a child who shows specific splanchnic 
lesion, experience would indicate that the green apples alone are 
sometimes an efficient cause. 

Finally it is to be noted that in a large number of disease con- 
ditions of any permanency in time they are dependent not on a 
single cause but upon numerous factors in which numerous lesions 
and numerous forms of abuse may be concerned in the various rela- 
tions of predisposition, predisposing occasions, and exciting causes.^ 



iFor excellent discussion of ''Summation of Causes in Disease and Death" 
by E. R. Booth, Ph. D., D. 0., see October, 1902, issue of Journal of tthe Amer- 
ican Osteopathic Association. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE 

It seems proper at this time to discuss a problem in relation to 
disease which has in recent years assumed extreme importance. 
The germ theory of disease is not at all a new explanation of disease 
conditions, for ever since the invention of the compound microscope 
m the middle of the seventeenth century the fact that small forms 
of life were associated with certain diseases has been known; 
and not only was this association known but shortly following the 
discovery of micro-organisms the doctrine of a causal relation be- 
tween such micro-organisms and the disease Avas promulgated, and, 
as suggested by Abbot, amounted almost to a germ-mania. But 
like numerous other facts and theories based upon those facts this 
was practically lost sight of until late in the nineteenth century 
when it was again revived by numerous investigators of world re- 
nown, among whom the names of Pasteur, Klebs and Koch stand 
pre-eminent. These, with others, placed the theory upon fairly sure 
ground in showing by methods to which no objections could be 
raised that in certain cases there is such a definite relation between 
the pathological condition and the presence of the micro-organism. 
The question is not yet entirely settled as to the nature of that 
relation. Is the disease as it exists responsible for the presence of 
the micro-organism, or do the bacteria produce the pathological 
condition? In accordance with these two ideas the micro-organisms 
have been classified into the Saprophytic, or those which live only 
upon non-living matter; and Pathogenic, or those which by virtue 
of some deleterious action definitely produce the disease condition. 
Doctor Still has insisted that all are of the former class and com- 
pares them to buzzards whose function in the larger world is to 
render dead and decaying material incapable of further harm. 
This view is further supported by the fact that certain bacteria, 
usually saprophytic, become pathogenic under certain circumstances. 
For example, the colon bacillus is usually harmless, yet when asso- 
ciated with the typhoid bacillus, or when other inflammatory con- 
ditions are present, this same colon bacillus becomes actively path- 

98 



THK GERM THliORV OF DISliASH 99 

ogenic. The ameba eoli also seems almost or quite harmless, yet 
when it is associated with other causes of intestinal disease, becomes 
definitely pathogenic. 

The question arises as to the manner in which bacteria act to 
cause disease in those individuals susceptible to invasion. The 
effects of bacterial action may be either local or constitutional, 
or, usually, both. 

Local Effects 

Local effects may be either mechanical or histological, or both. 

"Sometimes masses of micro-organisms more or less completely 
occlude small blood-vessels and occasion secondary changes in the 
tissues in this mechanical way. In other cases the obstruction is 
incomplete, but occasions thrombosis in the blood-vessels and areas 
of necrosis in the region thus deprived of blood; hemorrhagic ex- 
travasations of blood are not uncommon in such cases." 

''The histological changes occasioned by bacteria are prolifer- 
ative and destructive, among the latter being various degenerations 
and necroses." 

'* It would seem from late observations that the exact reaction 
following the primary settling of an infecting microbe depends upon 
whether it is able, by toxin formation, to destroy normal oxidative 
processes, in which case necrosis is apt to occur, or to act primarily 
with positive chemotactic power, in which case local suppuration 
usually appears."^ 

Constitutional Effects 

The constitutional effects of bacterial invasion depend upon the 
production of poisonous substances, usually by the bacteria, but 
sometimes by the tissues injured by the bacteria. These include 
several types. 

Ptomaines are produced by the decomposition of the media in 
which the bacteria grow. They are not specific, and they do not 
produce , antitoxins. Their chemical structures are known. 

Exotoxins are soluble and diffusible poisonous substances pro- 
duced by bacterial activities. They are specific, do produce anti- 
toxins, and their chemical structure has not yet been determined. 



'Stengel and Fox, Textbook of Pathology, 1921. 



100 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

Endotoxins develop within the bodies of bacteria, and do not 
injure the body of the host until the bacteria die, when the degen- 
eration of their bodies sets the endotoxins free. They do not produce 
antitoxins, as a rule; their chemical structure is not known. 

Bacterial proteins seem to make up the entire body of certain 
bacteria. They may be definitely toxic. Little is known of them. 

Immunity 

A few suggestions regarding the nature of immunity may not 
be out of place. It may be natural or acquired. Neither of these 
is to be considered absolute, and immunity may be broken by any 
one of many abnormal conditions. 

The skin and mucous membranes of the body give structural 
immunity. The hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice, the alkaline 
and proteolytic secretions of the intestinal juices illustrate the 
immunity due to secretions. The flow of secretions toward the 
surface of the body is a factor in immunity. The increased exuda- 
tion of fluids, as in coryza and enteritis, illustrate a reaction which 
increases natural immunity. Species immunity is found abundantly, 
and this applies to the host as well as to the invader. One type 
of tuberculosis is found in fish, but cannot be given to any mammal 
except the rabbit : nor can fish be affected by human tuberculosis. 
Man is susceptible to trypanosoma gambiense, but not to trypano- 
some naganae. 

Species immunity can be broken in many cases. Fowls are im- 
mune to anthrax, under normal conditions, but fowls kept at low 
temperatures by Pasteur became susceptible to anthrax. Frogs are 
not susceptible to anthrax, under their normal conditions, but when 
their temperature is raised to 35° they also become susceptible to 
anthrax. It is evident that it is not the infectious agent that is 
modified, but the resistance of the fowl and the frog, by tempera- 
lures abnormal to them. 

Racial immunity probably exists, but it is less important than is 
commonly supposed. Many facts supposed to indicate racial immun- 
ity are not such, but certain races seem to be exempt because of 
good sanitation, or because children suffer from light and immuniz- 
ing attacks of the disease, or because severe attacks kill off suscep- 
tible individuals in childhood. Even after due allowance has been 



THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE 101 

made for these, and other related facts, there still seems some basis 
for a belief in racial immunity. In animals racial differences in im- 
munity are often found. The culex mosquito rarely harbors malarial 
parasites. Gray rats are more resistant to streptococcus than white 
rats; field mice are susceptible to glanders, while white mice are 
immune. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely, which illus- 
trate the peculiarities of immune reactions, and which show how 
immunity may be broken by various abnormal states of the individ- 
uals subjected to infectious agents. 

Individual immunity is often noted. Even during great epidem- 
ics a comparatively small proportion of people succumb to infection. 
The great number of ''carriers" illustrates the fact that not only 
the infectious agent, but also a receptive and susceptible host must 
be present if infectious disease is to occur. 

Inherited immunity may be noted in family and in racial immun- 
ity. Congenital immunity is that due to intrauterine infection, in 
which the foetus suffers the disease, or it may be due to a transfer- 
ence of maternal immunity. 

Acquired immunity is due to previous infection, and to any one 
of many methods of conferring immunity without having suffered 
from the disease in a serious form. Immunity may l)e conferred by 
a light attack of the disease ; by voluntary infection with an atten- 
uated virus; by infection with dead bacteria; by the use of the bac- 
terial products. Immunity may be produced to certain poisons pro- 
duced by animal life, as snake venom, and by vegetables, as ricin, 
abrin, crotin, and other poisons. Not all poisons produce neutraliz- 
ing anti-bodies, but a number of the more virulent have been found 
to do so. 

Passive immunity may be secured through the use of other ani- 
mals. The horse, for example, produces antitoxin, which is much 
used in the treatment of diphtheria. Passive immunit}^ carries with 
it certain dangers, and is only safe in the hands of experienced and 
efficient physicians. The dangers include poisoning, other infec- 
tions, anaphylaxis, and other serious conditions, except when the 
method is employed with accuracy and skill. Even then, the method 
can only be said to be less harmful than are methods previously 
employed by medical physicians. 

After considering these facts, it is evident that the micro-organ- 
ism is not the sole cause of any disease. It must find its hospitable 



102 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

abiding place, and must be allowed to remain unmolested there; a 
condition not often possible in the normal human body. Note the 
significance of the following statement: "Under careful precau- 
tions against which no objections could be raised the experiments 
of Billroth and Tiegel were repeated by Pasteur, Burdon-Sander- 
son, and Klebs, but with the failure in every instance to demonstrate 
the presence of bacteria in the healthy, living tissue."^ In a few 
instances, bacteria seem able to invade bodies of people who seem 
to be healthy. The gonococcus finds lodgment upon mucous mem- 
brane, lives there, and ultimately sets up destructive inflammations, 
invades the injured tissues, and produces characteristic symptoms. 
It must be noted that such invasions begin with lodgment and 
destruction of the neighboring cells; the gonococcus does not act- 
ually invade the membrane until that membrane has been injured. 
Other apparent exceptions can be found, but the statement is sub- 
stantially accurate, that bacteria do not produce disease, and do not 
exist, within healthy tissues. 

Why are they not present within healthy, living tissue? We 
Delieve the only answer possible is that absolutely healthy tissue 
is incompatable with the propagation of the bacterium. Nancrede 
emphasizes this fact when he says, "Such healing is only possible 
m the absence of infection, mark you, not the absence of germs, 
because as we shall learn, microbes may be present, but unable to 
multiply and interfere with the normal processes for reasons which 
will be studied later. "^ The following facts are also significant; in 
any epidemic of diphtheria there is little difficulty in demonstrating 
the presence, in the pharyngeal mucous membrane of normal indi- 
viduals, of the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus; the micrococcus lanceolatus 
is present in the sputum or in the saliva of many individuals not 
affected with pneumonia; even in epidemics of Cholera Asiatica 
unaffected individuals may show the presence of the comma ba- 
cillus of Koch in the mucus of the intestinal canal. Why are not 
these affected? Why is not every individual stricken with the dis- 
ease during an epidemic? The only possible answer is that they 
are immune and immunity proves nothing less than that the bac- 
terium cannot be a sufficient cause of disorder. 

''The disease-producing character of bacteria, their virulence, 



1^ Abbot: Principles of Bacteriology. 
^Nancrede: Principles of Surgery. 



THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE 103 

depends upon several factors, which are subject to modifications. 
Virulence does not depend entirely upon the characteristics of the 
infectious agent, because the production of disease is an exhibition 
of reaction between invading organism and host. We may, there- 
fore, say that virulence depends upon two groups of factors, those 
inherent in the invading organism and those dependent upon the 
resistance exhibited by the attacked individual." 

"The studies of pathogenic bacteria have shown that they ac- 
quire or in certain instances may lose virulence l)y passage through 
animals, and that they may lose virulence by cultivation upon arti- 
ficial media." They may acquire increased virulence by cultivation 
upon artificial media to which animal tissues or extracts have been 
added, and this increased virulence may be specific for certain 
types of animals alone.^ 



'Karsner and Ecker: Principles of Immunity, 1921. 



CHAPTER XXII 

METHODS OF PROTECTION AGAINST BACTERIA 

The methods by which the body protects itself against bacterial 
invasion may be briefly considered. The first is phagocytic action, 
as suggested by Sternberg and later established by Metchnikoff. 
This consists in the action of the neutrophiles and eosinophiles of 
the blood; the endothelial cells, which may also be found in the 
blood at times; and the pulp cells of the spleen and lymph nodes. 
Connective tissue cells, including bone cells, striated muscle cells 
and giant cells may at times be vigorously phagocytic. 

''The process of phagocytosis involves three steps, first the ap- 
proach of the cell and the material to be taken up; second the 
ingestion of the material, and third, the destruction of such material 
as may be dissolved by the digestive fluids of the cell." (Karsner 
and Ecker.) The approach is due to chemotaxis, and this may be 
exemplified in drops of mercury, etc., under various chemical and 
physical conditions. The ingestion of the foreign body by the cell 
is secured by the protrusion of pseudopodia by the cell, and these 
pseudopodia encircle the object, meet, fuse and surround it; the 
cell protoplasm flow^s around and over the body, and thus encloses 
it completely. This phase also is easily reduplicated in non-living 
materials. 

Digestion of the foreign body, if it is digestible, is accomplished 
by means of secretions from the protoplasm of the cell. This fluid 
is usually slightly more acid than the cell protoplasm, and it con- 
tains proteolytic enzymes, which have, in certain cases, been isolated 
from digesting cells. If indigestible materials have been ingested, 
they may remain indefinitely; or may be extruded, or may cause 
the death of the cell. 

Phagocytosis is facilitated by opsonins. These bodies are present 
in normal blood jjlasma, and they are greatly increased during bac- 
terial invasion. They are specific for each organism, and sometimes 
for any one strain of an organism. 

Leucocytes produce also substances which destroy bacteria. Ex- 
tracts made from blood and exudates are definitely bactericidal and 

104 • 



MKTHODS OF PROTl-CTION AGAINST HACTHRIA 105 

are often specific for the bacteria causing the exudate or the leu- 
cocytosis. A leucocytic antibody has })een described. Several dif- 
ferent enzymes may be extracted from leucocytes which destroy 
dead bacteria, but are not bactericidal. 

The lymphocytes which surround injured or invaded areas pro- 
duce enzymes; their action is not well understood. Their lipase 
may be very important in the digestion of the fatty capsule of the 
tubercle bacillus. They seem also to form a part of the cancer- 
protective mechanism of the body. 

Blood platelets often surround bacteria, and this may interfere 
with their destructive action. 

Local inflammatory changes are often efficient guards against 
further infection. The increased temperature aids in phagocytosis; 
the accumulation of leucocytes and lymphocytes produces enzymes 
and various destructive agents for the bacteria; the connective 
tissue increase and the deposit of fibrin tend to wall off the diseased 
areas and prevent the spread of infection. 

Antitoxins and antibodies are produced quickly when active in- 
fection occurs. Antibodies are produced to some extent in the 
locality invaded. The lymphatic nodes, the spleen, the liver and 
the bone marrow seem to be the most important organs for the 
manufacture of anti-bodies. 

The mechanism of recovery from diseases associated with bac- 
terial invasion is of interest. Many experiments have been per- 
formed which show beyond question, from whatever aspect the 
tests are considered, that bodies which are the more nearly struc- 
turally correct, make the most speedy and complete recovery; and 
that anything which disturbs the structure of the body, or which 
interferes with its functional integrity, interferes also with recovery. 

Normal circulation of normal blood seems, after all facts have 
been considered, to be the most important factor in promoting re- 
covery. 

In general, then, we arrive at the conclusion to which the old 
school physicians must come and in goodly number are already 
coming, that first, assuming that certain micro-organisms in suffi- 
cient number may initiate disorder and may be able to gain access 
to the body substance, vitiated tissue is almost always a necessary 
prerequisite before the bacterium can excite the specific disorder, 



106 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

and that second, the treatment must include methods to overcome 
the cause of the vitiated tissue — which is usually a lesion or abuse 
— and to assist the organism in keeping up its strength to overcome 
the bacterium or its products which constitute the exciting cause. 
The usual methods for the destruction of bacteria known to be 
potentially pathogenic, and the usual sanitary provisions, are, of 
course, employed in all cases of infection. 

It would seem therefore that the anathemas hurled at the germ 
theory advocates by certain osteopaths are entirely uncalled for. 
The position of osteopathy is impregnable regardless of the ultimate 
demonstration of the exact relation between bacteria and disease. 
If it be shown that all such micro-organisms are simply associated 
and not causal factors, well and good. If the causal relation be 
established, it is no more true of them than of numerous other ele- 
ments of environment, that they may promote disease. Continued 
life in an atmosphere of dust certainly will cause disorder through 
abuse of the organs of respiration. An environment of excessive 
macroscopic life constitutes an abusing factor in the same way. The 
organism will be successful, so far as success is at all possible, as 
long as the machinery through which life manifests itself is kept 
in its structural integrity, and so long as the environment and abuse 
conditions do not exceed the limits of normal adaption. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE 
The Symptom 

Diagnosis consists in the determination of the location and nature 
of disturbed conditions. The osteopath recognizes the value of 
symptoms in that diagnosis. A symptom or a group of symptoms 
does not constitute disease but is only the evidence that disease 
exists. To treat the symptoms as they arise, and this only, is a rule 
of practice which implies the confession of failure to trace the symp- 
tom to its cause. It is only in occasional cases that it is necessary or 
admisable to treat symptoms and even that is but incidental. The 
symptom is an effect — a logical, and under the circumstances a legiti- 
mate physiological effect. It is as much a matter of physiology that 
the heart rate should be increased when peripheral resistance is at 
fault as that the heart should maintain a normal rate under normal 
conditions of peripheral resistance. Pain is a physiological condition 
under the circumstances of pressure or other cause of sensory irri- 
tation, and it is noticeably true of pain that by its presence protec- 
tion to the organism is secured. In the first place pain is a warning 
to the consciousness of the individual that something is wrong; 
second, the location of the pain together with the transference of 
the sensation gives fairly accurate location of the disturbance ; third, 
pain in numerous cases enforces rest, thereby securing better oppor- 
tunity for organic repair; and fourth, the pain condition by caus- 
ing directly, indirectly, or reflexly, increased activity of other parts 
of the body may further aid in processes of repair. 

Fever 

The high temperature of fever is a condition that in some respects 
is directly advantageous to the organism. It is known that in num- 
erous febrile states certain pathogenic micro-organisms play an im- 
portant role, not necessarily in acting as the original cause of the 
disorder, but at least in complicating the condition. By laboratory 
experiment and clinical observation it is found that with many 

107 



108 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

forms of bacteria a high temperature is directly antagonistic to their 
development. Hence the high temperatui-e, while a distinct symp- 
tom of disorder, is in addition a definite protection to the individual. 
The profuse sweat which is often associated with fever cases is an 
arrangement whereby a temporary respite is given to the patient 
from the great discomfort due to the temperature. In the evapor- 
ation of the perspiration the patient i^ temporarily relieved. The 
chill, also often found in connection with various acute cases, rep- 
resents a physiological principle. If a case of malarial fever be 
examined just at the beginning of the period of the chill, it will 
be found that the temperature of the body is near the normal. If 
observation be made shortly after the chill period, or even before 
that period ceases, a considera,ble increase in the temperature will 
be noted. Hence, the chill is a method for increased heat produc- 
tion — a thing very helpful under the circumstances. We know 
that most of the body heat results from oxidation processes taking 
place in active muscle tissue. In the chill we have a rapid con- 
traction and relaxation of the muscle tissues of the body with the 
consequent elaboration of heat. Since the chill is but an exaggera- 
tion of the shiver, the explanation of the increase in temperature 
becomes obvious. In the convulsion we have still another condition 
where it is probably true that a physiological purpose is fulfilled. 
Dr. Still has repeatedly emphasized his conviction that the muscu- 
lar spasm is but nature's effort to produce a redistribution of the 
forces and fluids. Note the extreme quiet that follows the epileptic- 
spasm. For several hours there is deep sleep during which recuper- 
ation is in progress. 

Digestive Reactions 

Vomiting and diarrhoea are symptoms indicating that there is 
disturbance to the nerve terminals in the digestive tract. But both 
are physiological. By the vomiting process the organism rids itself 
of material which if allowed to pass into the intestinal canal would 
create further disorder; while the rapid peristalsis associated with 
the diarrhoea carries onward material which, having gained entrance 
to the canal, is directly irritant. By this increased motion, absorp- 
tion of the irritating substance is materially lessened, and hence a 
definite protection is provided. The anorexia which is likely to be 
associated with both of these conditions, is a distinct protection in 



THH DIAGNOSIS OF DISHASE 109 

that it militates against taking into the alimentary canal additional 
material before the canal has cleansed itself of the irritant and 
before the assimilative processes are again in condition to function 
properly. In such a case, the absence of desire for food should be 
sufficient warning to refrain from partaking. The warning is often 
increased by a definite nausea which is produced by the mere sight 
or thought of food. Needless to say, the warning should be heeded, 
and yet as a result of years of false teaching, there are many who 
utterly ignore the warning and insist on forcing food upon a prop- 
erly rebellious stomach. 

Pulmonary Reactions 

The rapid respiration in pneumonia is another typical symptom. 
It undoubtedly is a favorable condition under the circumstances. 
For in this disorder one lobe of the lung becomes incapacitated be- 
cause of an infiltration into the air sacs and bronchioles of a material 
through which air cannot pass. As a result the lobe becomes solid- 
ified and comparatively little movement is possible. But the de- 
mand for oxygen is just as great as before; hence, in order to keep 
up a proper supply other parts of the lung must be overactive. 
Thus, by this hyperactivity the organism is protected against a 
deficiency of oxygen that would otherwise result. In a similar man- 
ner increased activity of the heart muscle is called for when a valv- 
ular deficiency occurs. In order to keep up a normal circulation 
with deficient valves there must be an exaggerated heart action. 
Clinical experience shows this to be the case. And not only does 
the heart increase in rapidity but it also increases in substance — 
purely a matter of accomodation resulting from the excess of action. 
Hence hypertrophy of the heart, while a symptom of organic car- 
diac disorder, is also a definite protection against failure of the 
circulation — an evil much greater than an enlarged heart. 

Glycosuria 

Glycosuria as found in diabetes is a definite symptom of pancre- 
atic disorder. It ought to be present in such a case. In fact the 
rather abrupt cessation of this symptom in a serious case of disease 
is a cause for alarm. When the sugar begins to accumulate in the 
blood it is the function of the kidney to throw it out. The failure 
of the kidney to excrete is cause for alarm. Associated with the 



no PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

excess of sugar in the urine there is an increased quantity of the 
latter excreted — as much as twenty pints or more having been noted. 
Under the circumstances this is necessary. In order to keep the 
excess of sugar in solution, fluid must be supplied. The greater 
the amount of sugar present, the greater is the amount of water 
excreted with it to hold it in solution. In this case the symptom is 
an undoubted protection.^ 

Inflammation 

In many inflammatory conditions there are certain appearances 
which suggest a definite protective action. It has been asserted 
with a good degree of evidence that the serous exudate in an 
inflamed area is a factor that tends to reduce the pain condition 
and assist in the healing process. In the case of an inflammation 
of a mucous surface, as in all catarrhal conditions, there is an excess 
of mucus secreted. The excessive blowing of the nose in an ordinary 
acute nasal catarrh is a detriment from the increased irritation thus 
caused. The exudate should be permitted to remain in contact 
with the mucosa, and to flow gently outward. In croupous inflam- 
mations such as diphtheria, the removal of the membrane is decid- 
edly contraindicated, unless it forms so rapidly and in such amount 
as to offer serious obstruction to respiration. It is undoubtedly, 
as indicated by clinical experience and by abstract reason, a real 
protection to the injured surface. 

Cases might be multiplied indefinitely where a peculiar appear- 
ance usually mentioned as a symptom, is not only the latter, but 
also is a protective means employed by nature. Not that every 
symptom is necessarily a benefit to the organism or that it is evi- 
dence that the latter is making the attempt to overcome the dis- 
order. In fact we know that to all appearances there are certain 
secondary changes that arise which are a disadvantage to the organ- 
ism. But there are certainly enough cases where a real benefit is 
derived to warrant the greatest of care in determining whether a 



^Disturbances in sugar metabolism are produced by lesions of the tenth 
thoracic vertebrae and neighboring tissues. Such disturbances lead first to 
lowering of the sugar tolerence, and, later, to definite diabetic symptoms. 
For accounts of the experiments upon which this statement is based, see the 
Bulletins of the A. T. Still Eesearch Institute. 

For discussions of the chemistry and the physiological mechanism of var- 
iations in sugar metabolism and diabetes, see Wells, Chemical Pathology, 1918. 



THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISIiASli 111 

symptom should be combated. Certain it is that the rule of prac- 
tice to ''treat the symptoms as they arise" without first determin- 
ing the usefulness or the harmfulness of such symptoms, is most 
reprehensible and has no place in the philosophy or practice of the 
osteopath. 

While it is thus true that in many cases the symptom has a 
definite value aside from the fact that it is a key to the nature and 
location of the disease, it is with reference to this latter considera- 
tion that the physician finds it of decided practical value. Disease 
in large part is determined by symptoms, and we may define a 
symptom as any unusual manifestation in structure or function 
that suggests disease. The symptom, in case it is one noted only 
in the sensations of the patient, may be subjective, or where noted 
by physician or other observer, is objective. As an instance of the 
former, pain is typical; of the latter the coated tongue in digestive 
disturbances, the contracted muscle in spinal lesions, or albumin- 
uria in nephritis. 

Of the classes of symptoms, subjective and objective, the latter 
is the one relied upon for determining the details; the former, 
although customarily first used in point of time, is unsatisfactory. 
This is true because the subjective symptoms are subjective. Feel- 
ings are unreliable signs. The location of the disorder may be far 
remote from that which is apparently indicated by the sensation. 
The further fact that in numerous cases patients are unable to locate 
the sensation or are unable to give an accurate description of its 
nature, increases the difficulty in the way of a satisfactory diagnosis 
from subjective symptoms. On the other hand the conditions that 
can be seen and felt objectively by the physician constitute fairly 
accurate indications of the disorder, while the tenderness on pressure 
which is manifest on physical examination gives quite accurate 
data for legitimate conclusions. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

METHODS OF EXAMINATION 

The methods of examination objectively are those in use by 
physicians of all schools, although the osteopath emphasizes one, 
palpation, above all others. First in point of time is the method 
by inspection, which consists in observing various changes in the 
appearance of the body, its function and its products, by the sense 
of sight aided in numerous cases by the microscope, the test tube, 
X-ray plates, or other apparatus; for instance, a coated tongue, a 
sallow complexion, and a high-colored urine are seen; by inspection 
lesions are determined, at least in general, as in the case of the 
carriage of the head in torticollis, the inversion of the toe in a 
dorsum dislocation of the hip, or a contracted muscle and deviated 
spinous process in a spinal disorder. 

Palpation 

Palpation is the second method in point of time but first in 
point of importance and consists in determining conditions by the 
sense of touch. For instance, by palpation we may note an in- 
creased cardiac impulse, a difference in the respiratory movement 
of the two sides of the chest, a tumor of the abdomen, a high tem- 
perature in fever conditions, a contracted muscle, a subluxated rib, 
or a limited movement in articular structures, and by pressure upon 
a part, though not by the sense of touch of the diagnostican, differ- 
ences in sensory conditions of the patient may be determined. Os- 
teopaths pride themselves upon the delicacy of their sense of touch 
and it is well they should, because by no method can the lesion be 
determined so satisfactorily or certainly as by palpation. If one 
of the various methods should be developed at the expense of others 
that one is palpation. It is characteristic of the founder of osteop- 
athy that he made use of palpation almost to the exclusion of 
other methods, and his ability to detect structural changes with little 
difficulty by the sense of touch was common knowledge. That 
there is large possibility of developing that sense will be admitted 
by all, but to the osteopathic practitioner the fact becomes more 

112 



METHODS OF EXAMINATION 113 

and more striking as his experience and observation extend over 
a larger period and a wider field. 

Percussion 

A third method of objective diagnosis is percussion. This con- 
sists in the comparison between the sounds produced by a series of 
light blows over the normal and abnormal organ. Every organ 
or structure has its specific percussion note which is determined 
by its density and its relation to adjacent structures or cavities 
which act as sounding boards or resonance chambers. Various 
names are given to the different grades and tones of the percussion 
note; thus we speak of the resonant note of the normal lung, the 
dull note of the liver, the flat note of abdominal dropsy, or the 
tympanitic note of the stomach distended with gas. The methods 
of percussion are immediate (direct), or mediate (indirect), in the 
former of which light blows with the fingers or a small mallet are 
delivered directly on or over the tissue; in the latter, which is most 
commonly used, a pleximeter is interposed betwen the structures 
percussed and the fingers or mallet. 

Auscultation 

By auscultation the sense of hearing enables the physician to de- 
termine disordered conditions of various of the organs, though by 
this method the sounds produced by the organs in their functioning 
furnish the evidence. A change from the usual nature of the sounds 
of the heart is indicative of cardiac disorder; the respiratory mur- 
mur gives evidence of a normal or abnormal condition ; the rumbling 
sounds produced in the intestines technically spoken of as borbory- 
gmus suggest overactive gaseous formation, or the friction sounds 
produced by the approximated pleural layers denote the dry form 
of pleuritis. 

Mensuration 

Mensuration is a method much employed by osteopaths, not only 
in the way of definite tape-line measurement, which is often helpful 
and occasionally essential, but by comparison in size and shape of 
paired or symmetrical structures. The difference in size between 
the sides of the chest is often noticed ; the difference in the width 



114 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

of the ilio-costal spaces is valuable in numerous cases; the shorten- 
ing of a lower limb through lesion at the hip or pelvis is noted by 
measurement or comparison; the increased circumference of the 
shoulder joint is diagnostic of a dislocated shoulder. 

Instruments 

For certain cases, many other methods may be employed. The 
thermometer gives accurate determination of temperature; the 
sphygmomanometer gives blood-pressure accurately; the sphygmo- 
graph gives accurate information as to valvular conditions of the 
heart; various instruments for illuminating and exposing to view 
the naso-pharnyx, auditory canal, retina, rectum, and other ori- 
fices of the body very often give information not to be secured in 
any other way. The various methods of laboratory diagnosis are 
indispensable. 

The ordinary medical physician requires only a diagnosis of the 
name of the disease from which the patient suffers, and his medi- 
cines are administered accordingly. But the osteopathic practician 
must know the entire condition of the patient, and this means that 
osteopathic diagnosis is necessarily more thorough, more accurate 
and much more important in determining treatment than is medical 
diagnosis. 

These methods modified and aided by pressure and rotation of 
parts either singly or collectively yield sufficient data to indicate 
the essential nature of most of the disordered conditions which the 
physician meets. All of them have their uses and their special value 
and the osteopath who entirely neglects any will certainly find 
occasion to regret his inability to make satisfactory use of that 
method. 

It is inappropriate to further discuss the question of symptoms 
in the diagnosis of special diseases. It is necessary at this time 
to take up for discussion the diagnosis of lesions. A consideration 
of this question is distinctly and peculiarly osteopathic since it is 
only the osteopath who has recognized the existence of the lesion, 
at least in the special use of that term which has been indicated 
in another chapter. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE DIAGNOSIS OF LESIONS 

The special and limited meaning of lesion is an osteopathic 
creation and hence it will be necessary to go quite into detail in 
the discussion of the factors entering into the determination of 
the presence of a lesion in any specific case. The fact has been 
emphasized that not every malposition of bony or other structures 
constitutes a lesion. In a few cases such a condition may be the 
only evidence of lesion and still be a real lesion in the two-fold idea 
assigned to that word, structural change, producing functional dis- 
order, but in the majority of cases with which the osteopath deals 
there will be other evidences which substantiate the diagnosis. Fur- 
ther, in this discussion it is not advisable to take up in detail the 
different forms of lesion as they may exist separately — bony, muscu- 
lar, ligamentous, visceral — but the consideration will be limited to 
a typical case where there is a combination of the first three named. 
For it cannot be too strongly emphasized that in most conditions 
of skeletal disorder the three will be associated in the causation of 
the functional perversion. In this discussion the presence of such 
an association is assumed, and the points essential in the diagnosis 
of that condition will be indicated. 

Examination 

There are two fundamental methods of procedure to be noted 
in making an examination of any part of the body, the one of which 
will tend to prevent possible error arising from the other. The part 
should be examined in its (1) functional activity. A perverted 
function is manifest in the appearance of the action of the organ 
which performs the function. In torticollis or wryneck the sterno- 
mastoid muscle presents an appearance when in action entirely 
different from that while at rest. Comparison of the muscle in the 
horizontal position with it in the erect position of the body suggests 
facts that otherwise escape attention. In the horizontal position the 
neck muscles are in (2) functional rest. In the examination of a 

115 



116 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

hip the action of it should be noted, but in addition the position of 
its various parts should be determined by palpation during its 
rest. The movement of the chest should be noted and compared 
with that of a normal action, but in addition there should be noted 
the position of the ribs while in expiration and pause. The move- 
ment of the inferior maxillary may suggest the nature of the lesion 
less noticeably than an examination of it in the quiet state. 



Perversion of Function 

Passing to the details in diagnosis it will be noted that the first 
evidence that a lesion exists is the perversion of function of some 
organ or structure, which is likely to be first discerned by the pa- 
tient or some one other than the physician. The patient gives the 
information that he has functional disorder of some special 
organ. That fact indicates in general the part of the or- 
ganism where lesion is most likely to be found; if it be gastric dis- 
turbance the splanchnic or the vagal region will be suspected; if a 
uterine trouble, the lower thoracic, the lumbar, or sacral structures 
are first examined; if the eye be impaired, the atlas and the upper 
thoracic are more likely disturbed. 



Attitude 

The general attitude is a factor in the determination of the 
approximate location of the lesion. Dr. Still has emphasized the 
fact that the position that a patient assumes is normal to the exist- 
ing structural condition, which is but a special application of the 
doctrine that function is normal to structure. To make a concrete 
case, suppose a lesion of considerable magnitude exists in the cer- 
vical muscles of the patient. The manner in which he carries the 
head suggests a cervical lesion. If a rib be subluxated the patient 
sits in such a position as to secure to him the least irritation. The 
careful way in which an individual afflicted with Pott's disease 
carries his body immediately suggests a spinal lesion. In aU of 
these cases the position or the attitude is the result of the lesion; 
that is, the lesion or its effects compel it to be such. Hence the 
value, when a patient presents himself for examination, of making 
a preliminary survey of the individual as a whole. 



THE DIAGNOSIS OF LESIONS 117 

Landmarks 

The position of landmarks is a third point to be considered. 
Having determined the probable region of the lesion by the method 
above described, a peculiarity in the positional relation between 
certain parts used as points for comparison may be noticed. In the 
case of a vertebra, the relation of its spinous process to those 
adjacent may be altered; the intercostal space, in case of a rib, may 
be found to vary in regularity throughout its extent, or may be 
narrowed or widened in comparison with those above or below; 
the lower margin of the liver, in malposition or enlargement of that 
organ, is displaced. It seems necessary to emphasize the fact in 
this connection, that no greater mistake can be or has been made 
tlian that of assuming the existence of a lesion whenever it is found 
that there is a variation in position of a structure. Reference has 
been made to the fact that structure as well as function can vary 
Irom the average within wide limits and still the condition be a 
normal one. While it is convenient to compare the body to a ma- 
chine and insist that in both cases a variation of the slightest degree 
in structural parts will cause disorder in the one as in the other, 
the comparison is not illuminating if carried to extremes. The 
machine is an unyielding structure and has no power of adjustment, 
which makes the necessity for perfect structural alignment an 
absolute one. The living machine, on the other hand, is made up of 
yielding parts and has marked possibilities of adjustment to struc- 
tural changes. The universal tendency on the part of the beginning 
student seems to be to make the assumption — unfortunate as that 
fact may be — that every unusual situation of a bony land-mark is 
abnormal. In some cases it would seem that the apparent structural 
change is, of all the several evidences of lesion, the most unreliable. 

Sensory Perversions 

A further evidence of the presence of the lesion is the sensory 
change. While this usually takes the form of a definite pain, in 
many cases it is of the nature of such sensations as anaesthesia, 
hyperaisthesia, or par^esthesia ; under the latter term is included 
the burning sensations, tightness of tissue, or of formication, i. e., 
sensation as of a small insect creeping over a part. Any of these 



118 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

may be present either at the local area of the lesion or may be 
remotely situated and partake of the nature of referred sensation. 

Pain is of such importance that it is necessary to enter into 
detail showing its relation to lesion and disease. It is a sensation, 
perceived by the cerebral cells concerned with consciousness, pro- 
duced by irritation of the sensory nerve. There are specialized nerve 
endings, nerve fibers, and nerve pathways in the cord for sensations 
of pain ; while it appears also that any afferent nerve sufficiently irri- 
tated gives the sensation of pain. Note the fact that the sensation is 
a brain function though it is usually projected to the part irritated. 
For instance, the sensation from a burned finger is felt in the sen- 
sorium but the individual is entirely aware that the irritation is at 
the finger. With reference to this fact, note the want of logic 
in the reasoning of the individual who is content with giving a 
drug which renders the sensorium less capable of receiving or re- 
sponding to the transmitted impulse. The pain is still present 
in so far as the nerve disturbance constitutes the pain. The drug 
has simply rendered the patient unaware of the existence of irri- 
tation. Pain, then, is a distinct advantage to the organism, and it is 
in relation to its advantage in the way of assistance in the diagnosis 
of the lesion that it will further be discussed. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

PAIN IN LESIONED AREAS 

It is to be noted that pain may be direct as when caused by- 
irritation produced directly upon the part to which the sensation 
is projected. For instance, an irritant taken into the stomach may 
cause the sensation noticed in that region; or pressure upon the 
ulnar nerve cause pain at the point of pressure ; a contracted mus- 
cle — e. g., the pyriformis, may irritate directly the sciatic nerve 
and the whole nerve suffer. In this case the pain is felt not only 
at the point of pressure but throughout the entire nerve trunk; for 
note that in the pressure on the ulnar, while the pain may be at the 
point of pressure, it is likely more noticed in the finger, i. e., at the 
peripheral end organs. In this case it is not necessarily simply a 
reference by consciousness, but an actual disturbance of molecular 
vibration throughout the entire nerve element, and the greatest 
intensity of impulse will seem to come from those parts which are 
especially developed for the purpose, as the sensory endings in the 
periphery. 

Referred Pain 

The pain may be indirect or referred. In this case a peculiar 
fact is to be noted, a fact that has been put in definite formu- 
lation by Head and which is spoken of as Head's Law. This 
law states that, ''When a painful stimulus is applied to a part of 
low sensibility in close central connection with a part of much 
greater sensibility, the pain produced is felt in the part of higher 
sensibility rather than in the part of lower sensibility to which 
the stimulus was actually applied." While this is a fairly correct 
statement of the real condition it should not be dignified by the 
name of law, since in the above wording it cannot apply to all 
cases by any means. Head based the law on observations with 
especial reference to visceral versus spinal pain. It is known that 
many of the viscera are comparatively insentient under ordinary 
conditions. That is, the nerves capable of conducting an impulse 
producing the sensation of pain are comparatively few and ineffi- 
cient, and hence the irritation sufficient to give pain must be cor- 
respondingly intense. But every one is aware that pain may be 
produced in a viscus and definitely projected to that viscus, and in 

119 



120 PRIXCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

order to show that Head's Law holds, it must be proved that the 
part of higher sensibility is the part most noticed by consciousness 
on the application of the stimulus to the more insentient organ. 
That such is the case in numerous instances may readily be admitted 
but that it is true in all is disproved. Were it stated that the pain 
may be felt in the part of higher sensibility the objection to the 
statement would cease. In this latter interpretation the question 
will be considered. Note that the law provides for a condition 
where there is a ''close central connection." 

Anatomical Relations 

Though little evidence of an anatomical nature can be adduced, 
there is much from physiological and embryological investigation 
to show that the spinal cord and less noticeably the brain are seg- 
mental structures. The cord may be arbitrarily divided into seg- 
ments corresponding to the paired arrangement of the spinal nerves, 
and we may assume with little probability of error that this divis- 
ion represents a physiological segmentation. That each part of a 
segment acts more with reference to its other parts than to parts 
from an adjacent segment, is a statement that is true in general. 
Hence, two nerve fibers having their central endings in the same 
segment will be in more intimate relation than fibers from different 
segments. This fact is indicated from various evidences derived 
from experiment, especially in reference to reflax action. For in- 
stance, Pfluger has shown that a stimulus applied to a limb of a 
''spinal frog" produces its first response in motion of that limb, but 
the next effect, produced by a stronger stimulus, is upon the limb of 
the opposite side, showing the radiation of the impulse to parts 
in the same segment. An additional stimulus causes effect on nerves 
from the immediately adjacent segments. But according to Head 
and others who have investigated the same problem, the phenomenon 
is not limited to a reflex mechanism such as is present in the above 
cases. A sensory nerve in connection with the same segment may 
be involved, or at least the pain may be referred to the area of 
distribution of that sensory nerve. Head calls attention to the fact 
that with a few possible exceptions, each viscus is related in this 
way to a definite area of cutaneous tissue. For instance, irritation 
of the stomach is likely to be associated with pain in the skin areas 
supplied by afferent fibers from the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth 



PAIN IN LESIONED AREAS 121 

thoracic nerves. It is significant that the pain is not necessarily 
of a simple ''referred" or ''transferred" character. It is noted 
that in numerous cases there will not only be referred pain, but what 
is a different thing, so called referred tenderness, in which case 
it is suggestive of distinct nerve disturbance rather than a reference 
on the part of consciousness. 

The reference of pain is not necessarily from a diseased viscus. 
Osteopaths continually have this fact called to their attention by 
numerous cases. Hip trouble gives rise to pain in the knee. This 
may be due to direct pressure by the luxated structures or localized 
edema upon the nerve supplying the articulation, or it may be due 
to impingement upon the terminals of branches distributed to the 
hip-joint referred back to the segment, and thence out over the 
branch to the knee. For we know that the same trunks which 
supply the articular structures of the hip also supply those of the 
knee. Similarly Hilton^ calls attention to the fact that the same 
nerve trunk that supplies a joint, also supplies the skin which over- 
lies it and the muscles that move it, and a further usual circumstance 
of interest, that the bowel wall, the peritoneal structures associated 
with it, and the skin overlying these, are supplied from the same 
segmental source. Earache may be associated with disturbances 
in the nutrition of the teeth, both of these structures being supplied 
by the fifth cranial. 

Central Origin of Pain 

In all of these cases there is a principle that is similar if not iden- 
tical — it is a physiological principle operative in a distinctly bene- 
ficent way under ordinary circumstances. Parts thus intimately 
associated anatomically are made to act in harmony not only in 
normal but in abnormal conditions. Further facts suggested by 
Hilton in relation to referred pain may be of some value. He notes 
first that pain in the superficial structures not associated with a high 
temperature of the part is suggestive of a distinct origin of the 
pain, and usually that origin is in the spine. He instances in this 
connection what osteopaths have been able to corroborate in many 
cases, that a sensory disturbance in the anterior terminals of the 
thoracic spinal nerves is often due to a spinal lesion, no local dis- 



^Hilton: Rest and Pain. 



122 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

order being manifest. A further rule is that when the pain is sym- 
metrical it is almost certainly caused by a central disorder. The 
application of the foregoing facts is apparent. By means of the 
pain or tenderness we may trace the situation of the segment of the 
cord which is involved. That involvement may be or may not be 
dependent on a lesion at the corresponding vertebra, but in the 
rcajority of cases such a lesion is found. Even though the definite 
structural change be absent from this part, the organ involved is 
indicated and indirect aid is given in the diagnosis. 

Hypersensitive Areas 

The tender spots, for the discovery of which the osteopath is 
famous, are always significant. In most cases these points of in- 
creased sensitiveness are quite limited in extent and suggest not 
a referred but a direct irritation. For instance, in the examination 
of a lesion of the spine the tissues at the region between the spinous 
and transverse processes are tender on pressure. This is always 
suggestive of local disturbance, congestion, intiammation, or edema 
01 tissues sufficient to irritate the sensory nerve terminals in the 
part. In palpation for such tender areas care must always be 
exercised or a tender spot may be produced where none before 
existed. Bear in mind that sufficient pressure in any part, whether 
normal or abnormal, produces pain or some other sensory change. 
The sensory condition of the part under examination must always 
be compared with similar adjacent areas and with the average con- 
dition. This last may be a question of experience — the average 
normal condition must be learned before there can be much possi- 
bility of detecting slight changes — a statement true not only with 
reference to pain but to all the several factors enumerated. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

MUSCULAR CHANGES IN LESIONED AREAS 

Another valuable factor in determination of the presence of a 
lesion is the condition of the associated muscle tissue. This is 
usually spoken of as a contracture, the causes of which have been 
referred to in the section on causes of lesions. It becomes necessary 
to distinguish between the meaning of contraction and contracture 
in order that confusion may not arise. The term contraction refers 
to the state of a muscle in the physiological process or condition 
of shortening and thickening. 

''Voluntary muscular contractions are actually tetanic, that is, 
even our briefest muscular movements are the result of a series 
of stimuli sent into the muscle at regular intervals during the 
continuance of its contraction ... It must be evident, there- 
fore, that the motor cells innervating a muscle always discharge a 
series of impulses which give rise to a serial evolution of muscular 
energy . . . These statements may also be applied to the tonus 
of a muscle, with this modification, however, that the stimuli upon 
which the tonic condition of muscle depends are of subminimal in- 
tensity . . . The term contracture signifies that thr^ relaxation 
of the previously contracted muscle is unduly prolonged, or, as 
may also be said, that its contraction is maintained for an abnor- 
mally long time. This condition is frequently encountered during 
fatigue, or when a fresh muscle is cooled, or is subjected to exces- 
sive stimulation."^ Such muscles may be found in hemiplegia, 
hysteria, under the influence of veratrin or certain other drugs, 
and in the neighborhood of vertebral lesions.^ Unless degenerated, 
such muscles react to stimuli by diminished, though otherwise 
normal, contractions or tetani. 

The term contracture is also used by certain authors in a differ- 
ent sense: a muscle subjected to chronic inflammation undergoes 
increase of connective tissue, becomes shortened, and the muscle 
undergoes atrophy. In lower neuron paralysis, the muscles undergo 



iBurton-Orpitz: Physiology, 1920. 
zBulletin No. 4: The A. T. Still Eesearch Institute. 

123 



124 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

atrophy, and the muscles become shortened and infiltrated with 
connective tissues. Muscles under both conditions are said to be 
contractured. 

The term rigor is also applied to muscles affected by vertebral 
lesions. Such muscles are swollen, subalkaline, edematous, con- 
gested, hypersensitive, more extensible than normal, and give dimin- 
ished response to stimuli. The muscle gives a sensation of irregu- 
larity to the examining fingers; the muscle seems ropy, and welted 
and lumpy, while between these hardened areas there is a peculiar 
dense quality; due, no doubt, to the edema. On microscopic exami- 
nation, such muscles show edema, cloudy swelling of the muscle cells, 
dilatation of the capillaries, with some hemorrhages per diapedsin. 
Similar conditions are found in rigor mortis during the early stages, 
during rigor caloris, and water-rigor, as Avell as in rigor due to 
the action of certain chemical substances. 

Such muscles are hypersensitive in experimental animals, as well 
as in human beings suffering from bony lesions. Emphasis should 
be laid upon the fact that a persistent contraction or contracture 
invariably results in a sensory disorder of some kind. Finally, 
material aid may be given in the determination between a muscle 
physiologically contracted and one in contracture by causing the 
individual or part to assume a position in which the necessity for 
physiological contraction ceases to exist. For instance, so long as 
the individual is in the sitting posture the deep cervical muscles 
are functionally active. On assuming the horizontal position the 
necessity for their contraction ceases to exist and they normally 
relax. If, however, the muscles be contractured or in rigor, the 
relaxation on changing position will not be so apparent. Note that 
it is s condition of degree, for the abnormal muscle undergoes 
partial relaxation when its contraction is no longer needed. 

Amplitude 

The amplitude of movement is a factor of much value in diag- 
nosis of the lesion and one which is closely associated with the 
condition of all structures. It was noted that in typical lesions 
bony, ligamentous, and muscular changes are associated and inter- 
dependent. All three^^ are concerned in producing the change in the 
freedom with which the part moves. A bony luxation usually lessens 



MUSCULAR CHANGES IN LESION ED AREAS 125 

the extent of movement and so do ligamentous strain and muscle 
contracture. On the other hand a lax ligamentous and muscular 
condition permits excessive rotation. The condition of the spine 
spoken of as a rigid spinal column is a case in point. The rigidity 
may be due to ''locked" vertebrae — rare — thickened and hardened 
connective structures, deposits in or absorption of intervertebral 
and articular cartilages as in articular rheumatism, or to simple 
but general functional muscle contracture, in the latter case usually 
yielding on application of measures designed to relax the muscles. 
Bony ankylosis is a condition occasionally met with and will man- 
ifest itself by absolute mobility. The X-ray is of great service in 
distinguishing between these conditions. 

Temperature Changes 

Temperature change in the local part is often found and usually 
is indicative of local lesion. The existence of a lesion means local 
irritation. Irritation results in hypergemia and hyperasmia may 
pass into inflammation. In either of the last two conditions there 
is increased heat because of increased blood, the latter being the 
principal medium by which heat is distributed. 

The increased temperature may be locally produced. Especially 
is this likely where local inflammation is present, the increased met- 
abolic changes being responsible for an increased oxidation with 
liberation of heat. Attention is occasionally called to a rib lesion 
through the difference in temperature along the course of the rib 
as compared to that above or below. It is not necessarily an in- 
crease but may be a decrease in temperature that is noticed. A 
cold state of the posterior cervical structures is a common accom- 
paniment of lesion in that region. Dr. Still calls attention to the 
fact that there is a lowered temperature of the skin in the gluteal 
and lower spinal regions in case of croup, while the ventral struc- 
tures may show an increased temperature. The numerous cases 
noted and the equally numerous possible causes of changed temper- 
ature suggest the importance of a careful training of the fingers 
in the temperature sense. 

Finally, the color of the part under suspicion may be an indi- 
cation of a lesion. In most cases the difference in color is dependent 
on the amount of blood present, congestion causing redness, isch- 



126 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

aemia producing pallor. Pigmentary deposits may occasionally be 
noted in the region of a lesion, from the blood or other change 
associated. 

In all the examination for the nature and location of a lesion 
the several factors mentioned should be borne in mind. In the vast 
majority of cases only a few of them are appreciably present. The 
greater the number the more certain the diagnosis. The absence 
of one or all does not disprove the presence of a real lesion and a 
serious one but renders its presence less easily recognizable. Note 
the fact that numerous osteopaths are quoted in the expression, 
''There was no lesion in the case." The want of logic evidenced 
by such assertion is quite apparent. To assume that every lesion 
can be detected is to assume the impossible. Lesions may be micro- 
scopic and still be lesions as judged by our definition, and he who 
thinks it necessary, in the case of imperceptible lesion, to assume 
the existence of some other cause for the disorder than that of the 
lesion, or that the manipulation of a part which produced a cure 
of the disorder did so otherwise than by removal of lesion, is making 
use of extremely faulty logic. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE 

Prophylaxis and Therapeutics 

The ultimate end which is kept in view in the determination 
of the etiology and diagnosis of disease is to establish a rational 
basis for the treatment of disease. By the treatment of disease 
is meant any method or measure which will assist the organism in 
re-establishing its normal function. More appropriately, it is the 
treatment of the diseased organism rather than the treatment of 
disease, for the disease will be disposed of by the organism itself 
if freedom is given to the healing agencies inherent in the organism. 
Broadly speaking, there are two grand divisions comprehended in 
the word treatment, one of which is concerned with all those meas- 
ures designed to prevent the onset of disturbed functioning. Tech- 
nically this is spoken of as prophylaxis. 

The term prophylaxis is a comprehensive one and has rather in- 
definite limits. In the first place it is concerned with the conditions 
of the environment of the individual. Sanitary measures employed 
by a municipality, including regulations governing sewerage sys- 
tems, tenement house requirements and the like, constitute definite 
prophylactic treatment applied collectively. Hygiene in the nature 
of cleanliness, normal exercise, and the breathing of pure air or the 
eating of proper food in proper amounts, constitutes prophylaxis 
of the individual in connection with his environment. On the other 
hand prophylaxis is applied directly to the organism itself either 
by the removal of the predisposing cause, as for instance the increas- 
ing of the chest capacity by lifting and adjusting the ribs in order 
to avoid furnishing suitable soil for the propagation of the tubercle 
bacillus ; overcoming the irritability of the mucous membrane of the 
nasal passages to prevent an attack of hay fever brought on by the 
presence of dust particles in the air; or insistence on abstaining 
from further abuse of an organ which otherwise would ultimately 

127 



128 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

result in exhaustion and hence disease, for example, where there 
is a tendency to writer 's cramp ; or prophjdaxis is applied in the 
avoidance of the exciting cause, or the direct destruction of that 
exciting cause. As illustration of the latter, the patient may be 
directed to move to a climate more favorable to his health, as in 
the hay fever victim who passes his summers in an atmosphere less 
laden with irritating particles; or the use of antiseptic washes in 
the case of contagious diseases. 

Measures may be applied in the treatment of the organism after 
the disease is present and this constitutes what is technically spoken 
of as therapeutics. It is necessary to observe as a precaution that 
many writers make use of this term to embrace both preventive 
and curative treatment. As a matter of convenience the two terms 
should be kept within their proper limitations. In the application 
of therapeutic treatment one or both of two policies may be pur- 
sued, the removal of the lesion condition or the abstinence from any 
use of the organ that under the circumstances would constitute an 
abuse. In the case of an individual afflicted with stomach trouble 
dependent upon a splanchnic lesion the proper treatment for such 
disorder w^ould consist in the removal of the specific lesion. So 
long as the lesion exists some care may be necessary to avoid any 
overwork or other abuse of that organ. If on the other hand the 
primary cause of the gastric unrest is abuse by errors in diet, 
therapeutics would consist — granting there was no lesion present — 
in the regulation of the dietetic habits of the patient. 

Of the two ideas associated with treatment, that of prophylaxis 
occupies the higher plane, for prevention is always better than cure 
though not necessarily in the ratio of the ounce to the pound. It 
is the dream of the idealist that a time may come when there will 
be a greater demand on the part of the people for prophylactic than 
for therapeutic treatment; when the individual will pay greater 
attention to laws of health and will go at frequent intervals to a 
qualified physician for the purpose of physical examination to detect 
any predisposing lesions that may have arisen since the last exam- 
ination or treatment. But the dream of the idealist will hardly 
be realized in this generation. The average osteopath is called 



THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE 129 

upon to treat a case only after the evidence of disorder is markedly 
present. Hence relatively greater stress must at present })e laid 
upon the therapeutic side, except that the physician may make him- 
self a distinct force for the dissemination of knowledge regarding 
the body and the laws of its health, together with a hearty co-opera- 
tion with all legitimate efforts to enforce sanitary measures ap- 
plied collectively to a city or community. 

Lesion in Prophylaxis 

The relation that the removal of lesion bears to prophylaxis, 
even in case of a therapeutic treatment, the author has discussed 
in a former article, a part of which is reproduced in this con- 
nection: "But after all that may be said of the curative treatment, 
is not every osteopathic treatment a prophylactic one? The use 
of the term curative is essentially incorrect. The physician does 
not cure. We object to the definition of osteopathy which affirms 
that the physician 'directs' the inherent recuperative forces of the 
body. The direction of those forces abides in a higher and more 
subtle power than can be exercised by the hand of another indi- 
vidual even though it may be guided by a high order of intelligence. 
Neither does he 'regulate functioning,' except in a secondary sense. 

=* * Functions are controlled by an inherent force which we 
denominate vital. That force itself cannot go permanently wrong. 
It will not cause permanent disorder of structure except it be 
hindered by blocked channels of interchange. And herein lies 
the fallacy of the Christian Scientist and all other mental healers. 
The 'tendency to the normal' operates in psychic as well as in 
materij^.l substance, and the normal in mind and emotion will be 
assumed if the organization of cell life be intact. If then the 
physician does not regulate functions or direct forces, what does 
he do? Fundamentally, he clears the way. Does that cure? The 
disease as it existed before the lesion was removed was caused 
by perverted function resulting from the lesion. On the removal 
of the lesion the disease as it exists is overcome by the restored 
normal functioning. The physician in removing the lesion has pre- 
vented the further progress of the disease. He has applied pre- 
ventive treatment. 



130 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

" Is it the assertion of an extremist to say further than that even 
m the removal of a lesion the physician is not overcoming a struc- 
tural condition? In the vast majority of cases which the osteopath 
meets, the treatment does not consist in setting a bone, if we use 
that term in the sense in which it is commonly used. In a case of 
a recently luxated hip the osteopath may be successful in one treat- 
ment. In such a case he perhaps is not simply aiding nature. But 
m the countless other lesions met with, chronic changes are present 
which do not admit of immediate replacement. In such cases the 
prime importance of the physician is as an assistant to the organ- 
ism. Where a lesion is produced by wnatever cause one of several 
things takes place. Nature first attempts to overcome the structural 
disturbance and is usually successful. Every footbaU player and 
every one who has watched the game will readily believe that 
numerous structural conditions are produced during the strenuous 
periods. Do every one of these need a treatment ? Hardly. Tension 
of tissue supplies sufficient treatment. But occasionally a structural 
disorder is sufficient in degree to pass the limits of self-adjustment. 
Failing in drawing the part back to normal the tissues on one side 
gradually yield, on the other gradually shorten, and with other 
changes a partial adjustment to the new circumstances takes place. 
What must the osteopath do? In the case where nature is still 
making the attempt to re-align, he can release the hindering struc- 
tures and in the average case 'nature will do the rest.' In this 
case he is not curing; he is preventing. Where complete adjust- 
ment to the changed condition has taken place he is perhaps more 
surely applying a curative measure in the breaking up of adhesions 
and stretching permanently shortened muscles and ligaments."^ 

Corrective Versus Palliative Treatment 

A further classification of treatment is made having reference 
to the immediate purpose and effect, as to whether it be corrective 

^Journal of Osteopathy, Nov., .1902. The Ounce of Prevention. 



THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE 131 

by virtue of aiding in the removal of the cause of disease, or whether 
it be palliative, in which case it is directed to a symptom rather than 
a cause. If the physician overcomes or assists the organism in over- 
coming a lesion of the spine which is causing heart disorder, or if 
the patient himself abstains from the abuse of his heart by over 
exercise where such has been the cause, a corrective treatment has 
been applied. If on the other hand he exerts pressure in the upper 
thoracic region and relieves a temporary palpitation or thoracic 
distress, a palliative treatment has been employed. Often no definite 
dividing line can be made between the two, for a corrective treat- 
ment is in a large number of cases palliative also. The adjusting of 
the ribs by the treatment in the thoracic region, thereby taking 
oft the pressure, will give relief to the distressed cardiac structures. 
On the other hand in numerous cases a palliative treatment, while 
given explicitly for the purpose of temporarily overcoming a symp- 
tom, may in the long run be corrective as well. A treatment applied 
for the purpose of lessening the intensity of pain will in occasional 
cases give to the organism a better opportunity for repair, which 
was wanting so long as the nerve disturbance continued. Further, 
it may become necessary that a palliative treatment be given in orc^er 
that the primary cause may be reached. For instance, an obstruc- 
tion to the bowel from impaction may cause such a tension of the 
abdominal wall as to make impossible any direct manipulation 
of the impacted area. In such a case treatment would be given for 
the purpose of relaxing the abdominal muscles which would be pre- 
paratory to the primary or corrective treatment. Or in the case 
of a wrenched spine the resulting congestion and contracture of 
the superficial spinal muscles may be such as to hinder treatment 
to the deeper structures, making it advisable if not essential to 
quiet the sensory disturbance and overcome the contractured con- 
dition before attempting the deeper work. Again, a palliative 
treatment may be essential as a preliminary to further diagnosis. 
In appendicitis the bowel wall is so irritable and tense as to prohibit 
palpation deep enough to determine the condition of the caecum 



132 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

and appendix ; or the superficial cervical tissues may be so contract- 
ured as to prevent the detection of a deep cervical lesion. In both 
of these cases the palliative or temporary treatment is necessary 
before a satisfactory diagnosis is possible. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

ADJUSTMENT OF OSSEOUS LESIONS 

The statement has been made that the three common forms 
of lesion, bony, muscular and ligamentous, are usually associated 
in the production of the same disorder. In the treatment of the 
condition a movement which affects one affects the others. In the 
case of the ])ony and the muscular lesion at least, special and pecul- 
iar methods are used. The ligamentous lesion can be affected only 
by work upon the others. Since we do find bony and muscular 
lesions associated the question arises as to which should have pre- 
cedence in point of time. It must be confessed that there is a 
difference of opinion regarding the matter. If the bony disorder is 
secondary to the muscular tension and is maintained in its position 
primarily by that muscular tension, manifestly the muscles should 
first be relaxed, and if no other cause of bony displacement be pres- 
ent that may be sufficient. Such a condition is a common occurrence 
in acute cases and hence the general rule that muscle contracture 
should have first attention in acute cases may be safe enough to 
follow. In chronic conditions, however, the vast majority of cases 
present bony disorder not primarily maintained by muscular con- 
tracture; and in most cases the muscle contracture is secondary to 
the bony disorder though in the beginning muscular contracture 
may have been primary. In such cases as these the author is per- 
sonally convinced that direct treatment to the muscles is secondary 
in point of time and importance, and so far as actual results are 
concerned the massage so often employed is entirely superfluous. 
The discussion will be begun therefore with a consideration of a 
few general principles underlying the adjustment of the osseous 
lesion. 

Exaggeration 

The first of these principles may be spoken of by the phrase 
which osteopathic usage has authorized, exaggeration of the lesion. 
By this is meant a manipulation designed to make the structure 
more prominent in the direction toward which it is displaced. For 

133 



134 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

instance if there be a right lateral subluxation of a cervical verte- 
bra the head should be flexed to the left and pressure applied to 
the cervical tissues on the left of the displaced bone; if a rib is 
subluxated upward on the transverse process of the vertebra, pres- 
sure is exerted upward at the angle of the rib and downward on 
the anterior extremity; if the innominatum be subluxated through 
a rotation upward and forward, pressure is exerted in an upward 
and forward direction on the iliac portion of the bone, upward and 
backword on the ischium. In the exaggeration of the lesion several 
objects may be had in view. In the first place the measure tends 
to free the articular structures, just as driving in a trifle may free 
the articulation of a nail with wood in which it is imbedded and per- 
mit it to be withdrawn more easily. In the second place the move- 
ment effects a stretching and relaxation of the deeper structures 
which in numerous cases is all the relaxation that is called for. 
Finally, there is secured the benefit of recoil which results from 
the stretching of the tissues and aids in initiating the movement 
backward towards the normal position. 

Rotation 

A second general principle is that of rotation. The value of 
rotation can hardly be overestimated although the rotation itself 
may easily be too extreme. In eflfecting rotation of the part dis- 
turbed, at some point during the circuit each of the fibres in each 
of the ligamentous and other connective structures will have been 
stretched and relaxed and the articular surfaces kept sufficiently 
free to allow the progress of the part back to its original position. 
The comparison may be crude but the conditions in the case are 
similar to the movement of a trunk or box along a platform by 
rocking it back and forth with some rotation. The advantage of 
this method over that of dragging the box bodily is obvious. 

Pressure 

A final general principle in the adjustment is the simple one 
of pressure applied to the displaced structure in the direction toward 
its normal situation. In point of time the exaggeration of the 
lesion is first, rotation and pressure follow and are co-extensive 
and co-ordinate in time. In all but a comparatively few cases these 



ADJUSTMENT OF OSSEOUS LESIONS 135 

three principles can be applied with advantage, and are applied 
although the physician himself may not have been aware of their 
application. In a few cases little direct pressure can be satisfac- 
torily made, and in case of an anterior lumbar vertebra, it is 
necessary to rely principally upon the tension of tissues in and 
following the process of rotation. In other cases the exaggeration 
of the lesion may not be feasible; but in no case is it impossible 
to apply rotation and in numerous conditions where the lesion is 
slight, that of itself is sufficient aid to the organism in affecting a 
normal adjustment. 



CHAPTER XXX 

ADJUSTMENT OF MUSCULAR LESIONS 

In most cases of a chronic nature and in practically all acute 
cases muscular lesions are quite manifest. It is not necessary at 
this time to discuss the question as to whether that lesion is primary 
or secondary: the fact that it exists calls for discussion as to the 
methods of producing relaxation. For whether the lesion be pri- 
mary or secondary its removal is seldom if ever contraindicated. 
Note first that one or more of several purposes may be had in view 
of the relaxation. 

Relaxation for Diagnosis 

One of the objects in such relaxation is that of diagnosis. In 
a large number of cases the muscular lesion is the most apparent 
one, which fact has given rise to much hasty reasoning with the 
conclusion that no additional factors were present. The writer 
was once told when he was a student in school, that when he ''got 
into the field" he would find little beside muscular lesions. He 
is compelled to testify that the informant has proved himself a 
false prophet; if care be taken in analysis of conditions few acute 
or chronic cases can be found present unassociated with deeper than 
muscular lesions. Indeed it is not unsafe to assert that in most cases 
the muscular contracture is direct evidence of a deeper lesion. The 
difficulty of detection may be much more marked than the realness 
of the lesion. The fact that a deeper lesion is usually associated 
makes it necessary, or at least in many instances helpful, to effect 
a superficial relaxation in order to detect the deeper condition. 
Note the case of a contractured cervical region. In such the osteo- 
path may not be able to determine the condition of the cervical 
vertebrae until the obscuring muscle contracture is removed. It is 
often difficult, further, to detect the relative position of the posterior 
part of a rib at its junction with the transverse process of the 
vertebra until the associated contracture is overcome. 

A floating kidney as a lesion is often obscured by contracture of 
the quadratus lumborum and abdominal muscles. Not only for diag- 
nosis of further lesion is removal of contraction and contracture 
necessary, but also for determination of the organ involved and 

136 



ADJUSTMliNT OF MUSCULAR LliSIONS 137 

the nature of the involvement, in other words, for diagnosis of the 
disease itself. Note the fact that in hepatic colic from the passage 
of a gall-stone, muscle contraction is so intense and painful that 
a palliative relaxation becomes imperative for definite diagnosis of 
the gall-stone condition; similarly an obstruction to the bowel pro- 
duces secondary abdominal tenseness sufficient to prohibit palpation; 
the rectal and vaginal sphincters may be so constricted as to hinder 
local examination of the position and condition of the uterus. In 
all such cases the osteopath often finds it necessary to resort to the 
removal of the secondary obscuring lesions before he is able to make 
a satisfactory diagnosis of the disease. 

Relaxation as Preliminary to Treatment 

A second object is as a preliminary to further treatment. Dr. 
Still invariably allowed his fingers or palms to "sink in" the tissues 
for a moment previous to the movement for adjustment of a cervi- 
cal vertebra; in this "sinking in" relaxation occurs which reduces 
the vaso-motor mechanism to the part involved. Relaxation of the 
pressure. In long standing cases of hip dislocation where a crude 
new articulation has been formed with a consequent adjustment — 
shortening and lengthening — of muscle and ligament, it is impossible 
to immediately reduce the dislocation, and recourse must be had 
to a series of treatments designed to relax and otherwise change 
structural conditions which are secondary to the original disloca- 
tion. In bowel occlusion from impaction of feces, relaxation of 
the abdominal wall is essential to a further direct manipulation of 
the impacted area. 

Relaxation of Primary Lesions 

Finally, relaxation is used as a treatment primary in itself. A 
muscle contracture whether primarily or secondarily produced 
exerts pressure on tissues within itself, (e. g., sensory nerve ter- 
minals) or disturbs structures to which it is attached. As instance 
of the former note the conditions of congestion produced in the 
respiratory canal by virtue of contractures irritating afferent nerves 
which carry impulses to the segment of the spinal cord governing 
the vaso-motor mechanism to the part involved. Relaxation of the 
muscle tissue in such a case removes the primary cause of the con- 
gestion. By the tension upon the associated vertebra or rib, dis- 



138 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

placemeut of the latter further adds to the difficulty and hence is 
additional cause; in this case the relaxation permits of a return 
of the displaced structures to their natural relationship. Further 
instances are relaxation of supra-hyoid muscles which interfere with 
venous return from various cephalic structures, thus relieving con- 
gestion; pressure on the bowel wall in a spasmodic contraction of 
the muscular coats which relaxes the tissue and overcomes the 
cramp which so distresses. 

Methods 

With regard to the methods employed in producing relaxation 
several are in vogue by different osteopaths. Among them mention 
may be made of the most important. The removal of the cause 
constitutes in all cases the fundamental method. Owing to the 
tendency on the part of students to overlook the fact it seems neces- 
sary to emphasize that a contracted muscle remains in that state 
only by virtue of a continuously acting stimulus. A muscle in a 
state of rigor may remain in that state indefinitely, or until cor- 
rect circulation removes the abnormal fluids from around its cells. 
One of the inherent properties of muscle tissue is the ability to re- 
spond to a stimulus by a contraction. It is no less an inherent 
property of that tissue to relax as soon as the stimulus is removed. 

In muscular rigor, the removal of the cause of edema, the res- 
toration of normal circulation and normal alkalinity of the fluids, 
the restoration of normal innervation, permit the injured cells to 
return to normal conditions, unless the rigor has persisted so long 
as to cause definite over-growth of connective tissues and atrophy 
of muscle cells, — the condition of contracture in the common signifi- 
cance of that term. 

With a certain proportion of students and inexperienced osteo- 
paths the first consideration on meeting with a case presenting con- 
tracture is the application of methods direct to the muscle designed 
to produce relaxation. This is fundamentally erroneous. The first 
consideration should be the determination of the nature and source 
of the constantly acting stimulus. The second consideration should 
be the application of measures to remove that stimulus. If a muscle 
is contracted through simple exposure to a change of temperature 
the primary treatment is the negative one of removing the patient 
from the influence of the changing temperature. If the contraction 
or contracture is caused bv a direct irritation to the motor nerve 



ADJUSTMENT OF MUSCULAR LiiSiONS 139 

tlirough pressure from a deep bony or ligamentous lesion, the essen- 
tial treatment consists in opening up the space which transmits the 
nerve. A contractured condition of the anterior muscles of the 
thigh caused by impingement upon the anterior crural is logically 
and surely overcome by the adjustment of the subluxated hip, pelvic, 
or lumbar structures causing the impingement. Note that the direct 
work upon the muscle in any of these cases will be getting at the 
difficulty from the wrong side and can only indirectly and in most 
cases temporarily reduce the contracture. 

Pressure 

Admitting the logic of the above considerations it yet remains 
a fact that specific methods, other than those directly concerned 
in the way indicated above, may be employed as a matter of exped- 
iency. Pressure with quiet and slight rotation of the tissues, usually 
more in a direction at right angles to that of the fibres than other- 
wise, is employed in numerous cases. This method secures normal 
condition of the muscle by acting upon its fluids. Venous blood is 
forced out, and arterial blood returns; edematous fluids are carried 
away ; alkalinity is brought to normal by the blood flow, the tension 
due to turgor diminishes, and the muscle resumes its normal meta- 
bolism. 

As examples of cases in which the pressure and manipulation 
method is efficacious are the following : in headache the suboccipital 
region is often found quite tense, in which case gradual but deep 
pressure, a "sinking in" as Dr. Still calls it, forces the tissue to 
relax and often yields immediate relief. In ease of the passage of 
a gall-stone along the duct the irritation is so intense as to cause 
direct connection along the duct, the abdominal wall overlying it, 
and the spinal region from which it is innervated, in which case 
pressure is used both along the spine and the course of the duct. 
In croup and diphtheria the rapid inflammation and associated toxic 
condition cause rapid and intense contraction and congestion of the 
supra-hyoid muscles, which will in most cases rapidly, though per- 
haps temporarily, yield to the pressure and manipulation. 

Stretching 
Stretching the muscle is a method that is employed by many oste- 
opaths for the purpose of producing relaxation. It is doubtful 
whether such a method usually results satisfactorily. Theoretically 



140 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

there is much to be said against the process. The process of stretch- 
ing a muscle is one method of increasing the irritability of the 
muscle. Lombard is authority for the statement that 'Hhe irritabil- 
ity of muscles is likewise increased by moderate stretching and des- 
troyed if it be excessive." Hence it would certainly seem illogical 
to attempt relaxation by increasing its irritability. Neither would 
it be the part of wisdom to destroy the irritability by excessive 
stretching. A muscle in the condition of contracture will be stimu- 
lated to still greater contraction by throwing it out of tension and 
yet there seems to be no question that in a certain percentage of 
cases the process does result favorably and the explanation is sought. 
The stretching of a muscle, thus increasing its tension, corresponds 
in a way to the exaggeration in case of an osseous lesion, and in 
that case there is secured the benefit of recoil. In addition refer- 
ence is again made to the fact that muscle contracture is not iden- 
tical with muscle contraction, and in the process of stretching, 
the congested material and waste products are more or less forci- 
bly expressed from the contractured tissue, though no relaxing 
effect might be gotten on a simple contraction. In all cases when 
attempting relaxation by this method a simple rule of guidance 
is usually sufficient. Separate the origin and insertion of the muscle. 
In case the scaleni muscles are found contractured on the left side, 
bending the head to the right with the shoulder a fixed point sep- 
arates the attachments and hence produces stretching. Hyper-exten- 
sion of the thigh stretches the anterior femoral muscles, while ex- 
treme flexion of the thigh on the abdomen puts tension on the pos- 
terior muscles of the limb. Pulling the middle portion of a muscle 
in a direction transverse to the course of its fibers produces tension 
of the muscle although the absolute distance between the two attach- 
ments of the muscle actually may have been lessened, as in the case 
of an upward and outward manipulation of the spinal muscles in 
the region of the lower thoracic. 

Approximation 
Another method less subject to abuse is that of approximation 
of the origin and insertion. In this method the attached structures 
are forced toward each other. That this method is efficacious as a 
temporary expedient few will deny. Just as the tension can be re- 
moved from a rope attached to posts by bending the posts toward 
each other, so to an appreciable extent can the tension be taken 



ADJUSTMENT OF MUSCULAR LESIONS 141 

from a muscle by forcing nearer together the points of attachment. 
Further, this method seems to be a most natural one, and one re- 
sorted to involuntarily in many eases. Note the characteristic po- 
sition assumed by a victim of peritonitis in which the superficial 
abdominal tissues are intensely tightened. The patient lies supine 
with the limbs flexed at the hip and the head and shoulders raised, 
the total effect on the musculature of the abdomen being an approxi- 
mation of the origin and insertion of most of the muscles concerned. 
A further instance indicating the value of this method is the flexing 
of the head dorsally upon the neck in a case of suboccipital con- 
traction; or the flexion of the arm at the elbow for the purpose of 
relaxing the biceps preliminary to the reduction of a dislocated 
shoulder. 

It is seldom that any one of these several methods is used alone 
and it is in comparatively few cases that it is possible or advisable 
to avoid using two or more of them. For instance in the case of 
a contractured scalenus muscle a common method is first to bend the 
head away from the side of the contracture, which stretches the 
muscle, then to rotate it back, which approximates the origin and 
insertion, and at the same time to exert pressure directly upon 
the muscle fibres. Tn this case three of the methods are employed 
and it is altogether likely that during the course of the movement 
the deeper structures are opened up, impingement taken off the nerve 
which supplied the muscle, and hence the irritation removed and a 
fourth method employed. The point was emphasized in the case of 
the method by pressure that the application should be gradual. It 
is equally true of the other methods, and not only with reference 
to the application but the removal of contact should be gradual for 
if the removal be sudden there results an abrupt change. Abrupt 
change, whether from a lower to a higher or from a higher to a 
lower level, constitutes a stimulus, and a stimulus means further 
contraction. Another caution of some considerable value has refer- 
ence to the relative temperature of the hand of the physician. If 
the manipulation is made upon the tissues it is necessary for best 
results that the temperature of the part and of the physician's hand 
should be approximately the same. Especially is it advisable if the 
physician has cold hands to warm them before beginning the treat- 
ment, otherwise the shock produced by the diff'erence in temperature 
will be a distinct added stimulus for further contraction, a result 
not at all to be desired. ^ 



CHAPTER XXXI 

TREATMENT OF OTHER LESIONS 

Thus far there has been discussed certain general principles 
underlying the treatment of bony subluxations and muscular con- 
tractures or rigors. It becomes necessary to suggest a few points 
of practical value in regard to the other forms of lesion which the 
osteopath must often meet. In all of those cases of perverted size 
relations of parts, the physician has to deal with some nutritive dis- 
order responsible for the perverted grow^th lesion, and hence in such 
cases it is necessary to seek the further lesion or other cause of the 
nutritive condition and give attention to its reduction. In a second 
class of cases the lesion of perverted growth has resulted from di- 
rect violence producing a bruise or other enlargement in which the 
same considerations of treatment apply. The reduction of these is 
largely accomplished through dependence on normalizing all of the 
associated structures and relying on normal processes of absorption 
to remove the surplus material. 

Tumors 

In some cases it is necessary to resort to surgical removal. A 
tumor of the abdomen is a perverted structure which by pressure 
upon the hypogastric plexus or other vital structure may produce 
disorder of various forms. The treatment of such a lesion depends 
upon the condition of the patient. Correction of every cause of 
disturbed circulation and innervation, and perhaps the surgical re- 
moval of the tumor itself, are indicated, according to the nature of 
the neoplasm, the effects produced by its pressure upon neighboring 
organs, and the prospects of its becoming diminished or its assum- 
ing rapid and malignant development. Overgrown muscles and 
exostoses have been known to cause disorder by direct obstruction 
and hence are considered as lesions ; the removal of such will depend 
upon the same factors which are suggested in reference to the 
tumor. 

Connective Tissue Lesions 

The overcoming of connective tissue lesions is a matter of no 

142 



TREATMENT OF OTHER LESIONS 143 

little difficulty. A typical lesion of this type is found in the rigid 
spine more or less normal to the aged individual and often met with 
in younger people who have suffered from some violence. This rigid 
spine condition, where it is not of a temporary nature such as would 
bo produced by simple muscle contraction, is caused by a thickening, 
contracting and lessening of the fibrous and other ligamentous struc- 
tures associated with the vertebrae; or by a deposit in the articular 
structures of various substances, as in the case of chronic gout and 
articular rheumatism; or finally, a condition of bony ankylosis. In 
all of these cases it is a serious question whether a complete cure can 
be effected or very great benefit given, owing to the difficulty of re- 
moving such lesion by any known methods. In most cases it will 
largely be a ''breaking up process" designed to open up the deep 
structures, thereby overcoming tension on nerve and blood-vessel 
and permitting a free opportunity for absorptive processes to be 
maintained. 

A further type of connective tissue lesion is found in the case of 
cirrhosis of the liver where the connective tissue framework has 
been formed in excess and has subsequently contracted, thereby 
reducing quite appreciably the total volume of that organ and very 
considerably obstructing the portal circulation and the metabolic 
activities of the liver. In the case of sclerosis of the spinal cord 
we have also a connective tissue lesion of a serious nature. In this 
case the neuroglia of the cord is thickened and contracted produc- 
ing or following a degeneration of the nerve elements. In both 
cirrhosis and sclerosis the outlook for removal is unfavorable. For 
we know that while a regeneration of nerves does take place in 
peripheral structures, there are as yet no authentic cases of regen- 
eration of the nerve fibres in the spinal cord. All that can be 
reasonably expected in such conditions is the limiting of the further 
progress of the disease and a partial absorption of the morbid 
deposit by establishing and maintaining a normal spinal circulation. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

Time Required 

A few questions of general interest invariably arise in the mind 
of the student with regard to the difficulty experienced in over- 
coming the lesion, the time required to effect a cure, and the fre- 
quency and length of treatment, and it seems advisable to note a 
few of the facts which enable us to explain the varying results ob- 
tained, and suggest the factors necessary to consider in judging 
cases, although it must be noted that in many instances no rules 
are applicable, and the judgment of the physician in connection 
with the peculiarities of the immediate case will be the only court 
of appeal. 

The first to be noted is an explanation of the fact that lesions 
are not immediately removed. Osteopathy has made its reputation 
before the world perhaps more because of a few occasional startling 
instances where a single treatment has overcome a case of long 
standing than by the vastly greater number who have been cured 
only after long and toilsome effort on the part of both physician 
and patient. The strength of the system is derived from the latter 
case but it is most noticeably brought to the attention of the world 
by the former. Why is it that all cases are not of the quick cure 
class? If the treatment consists in rearranging the sub luxated 
parts why not do so immediately as does the engineer with his en- 
gine? There are several facts which serve to explain this situation. 
In the first place the man-machine does not quickly change its parts. 
under normal conditions. While there is continuous change it is 
a process requiring time. It is no less true in abnormal states. The 
vitalizing force carries forward its work of repair certainly but 
slowly. In this there is a marked distinction from the man-made 
machine. Again, it is necessary to remember the conditions pre- 
senting themselves in case of a lesion. When first produced the 
tendency is to draw back into line or otherwise overcome the abnor- 
mal part by the inherent power of adjustment. In many cases nature 
is successful in this effort. In occasional cases she is unable to accom- 
plish the result and in such cases is the field of operation for the 

144 



TIME REQUIRKD 



145 



physician. But note the second effort on the part of nature. Failing 
m applying adjustment by drawing back to normal alignment the 
perverted structure she applies it in the way of adjusting the sur- 
rounding structure in position and form to the new abnormal one. 
This becomes especially noticeable in case of hip dislocation, where 
it is known that the superior hip muscles have permanently short- 
ened while the inferior ones have correspondingly lengthened. A 
general rearrangement of parts also takes place in case of a vertebral 
or a rib lesion, so that in numerous cases the new condition becomes 
finally a normal one in the sense at least of producing no marked 
abnormal functioning ; not normal, however, in the sense of the new 
arrangement being as substantial as the original. In a certain per- 
centage of such cases there is still a partial failure to adjust and a 
real and chronic lesion prevails. It is necessary for the physician 
to either overcome this partial adjustment or to give enough of aid 
by manipulation to permit a full adjustment to the new condition. 
In either case it is obvious that some considerable time is necessary. 
Of course the above considerations have special reference to chronic 
lesions. In acute cases much less time and fewer treatments will 
be required. 

In many cases the lesion is not entirely removed, that is, in the 
sense of securing a complete return to normal of the perverted part. 
This is less often true when we consider the other side of the lesion 
idea, the perverted function. For while in many cases the perver- 
sion of structure may not be entirely overcome, in most of these 
the perverted function has disappeared. Note the fact that as a 
general rule the function becomes normal before the structural per- 
version is entirely overcome. This fact depends on the power of 
adaptability possessed by th^ organism. It is able to produce nor- 
mal function with tools that are not as yet ideal. From this fact 
may be seen one explanation of the lesion's incomplete reduction. 
The patient, as soon as he feels normal and sees no further symp- 
toms of any disorder, assumes that his cure is complete ; and for the 
time and perhaps permanently that is true. Hence he refuses longer 
to pursue the treatment. In all such cases emphasis should be laid 
on the fact that the incomplete structural reductions remain a 
weakened condition and hence are a continuous menace to the health 
of the individual either in causing a return of the original disorder 
or of another that is possible from the same lesion. Further, owing 



146 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

to the partial adjustment that has taken place in the chronic case 
the strength of the new articulation or adhesions may be such as 
to defy the most persistent treatment. It seems reasonable, how- 
ever, that in the great majority of cases the original normal con- 
dition of structure as well as function may be restored provided 
opportunity in the way of time is secured. 



Frequency of Treatment 

"With regard to the frequency of treatment, only general rules 
may be given. At the risk of becoming tiresome, the statement must 
be emphasized that it is not the physician but nature that heals. 
If it were the former, one might be justified in frequent attempts to 
adjust a part .Since it is the latter, time must be permitted in 
order that the gradual process of repair should take place. It must 
be remembered that a condition which is such as to preclude immed- 
iate adjustment must be one in which a process of adaptation must 
take place before the part can be restored to its original position. It 
must be a growing back in real truth and growth requires both 
time and quiet. If a beginning can be made in reduction at the 
first treatment one should be satisfied; then allowing sufficient time 
to elapse for adjustment to the new conditions that have been pro- 
duced, the process of repair and restoration can be carried forward 
with sufficient rapidity. In general a frequency sufficient to compel 
a continuous soreness throughout the entire interval is too great. 
In chronic diseases the average case prospers most satisfactorily 
with treatment applied two or three times per week. But each 
case must be a study in this sense as in others. In some cases a 
greater, and in many cases a less frequency of treatment is found 
most satisfactory. For instance, Dr. Still has always insisted — and 
younger practitioners are learning slowly that he is right — that the 
ordinary case of asthma should not be treated oftener than once 
per week or ten days. On the other hand acute conditions require 
more frequent attention. In such the changes are much more rapid 
both with respect to repair and to the pathological states that are 
produced. Further, owing to the latter fact there are continually 
arising secondary lesions and other causes of disorder which must 
have attention. An acute case usually needs treatment one or more 
times per day during the more critical periods. 



TIM£ REQUIRED 147 

Length of Treatment 

The considerations in the above paragraph hold in part in regard 
to the length of the treatment. The young osteopath invariably 
gives more time to an individual treatment than v^ill an older prac- 
titioner. It is characteristic of Dr. Still himself that he ** treats a 
case and goes," and his success is no less remarkable than the brevity 
of his treatment. There is such a thing as drawing upon the vitality 
of the patient by a too lengthy treatment. It is not likely a long 
treatment will be given except by him who gives a general rather 
than a specific one. For it takes but a few moments to produce 
sufficient irritation of a local part to cause serious and successful 
protest on the part of the patient. Where the body is treated as 
the masseur treats, much time is required, but osteopaths are not 
masseurs. Cases are met with occasionally where, owing on the one 
hand to lack of skill on the part of the practitioner and on the 
other to an extreme tissue tenderness of the patient, some prelimi- 
nary treatment may be necessary before specific work can be given. 
In such cases time may be used to good advantage in somewhat 
prolonging the treatment. In nervous individuals any indication of 
hurry on the part of the practitioner will react unfavorably on the 
patient. 

With reference to the rapidity of movement a caution is neces- 
sary. In dealing with all cases, whether primarily a lesion of bone 
or other tissue, quick movements are rarely advantageous. A quick 
movement usually acts as a stimulus to an already hyper-sensitive 
tissue. Hence the tissue is made to "set" against the effort to 
move it. Muscles and other tissues directly worked upon in treat- 
ment are structures which in disease conditions change their shape 
and condition only gradually. The tissue can be led but only 
with difficulty, and with much possible harm will it be driven to 
its normal relationships. 

There is a possibility of harm in the treatment by manipulation. 
The statement is repeatedly made that "if osteopathy does you no 
good it will 'do you no harm. ' ' The statement is interesting in that 
it is more or less untrue. Osteopathic manipulation properly ap- 
plied is not likely to result in danger but in the hands of an indi- 
vidual unacquainted with the laws of leverage and the arrangements 
of the levers which he uses in most movements, there is much pos- 



148 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

sibility of harm. AVliile it is not true that the force sufficient to 
reduce a lesion is sufficient to produce one, yet there is enough of 
truth in it to be worthy of notice. The harm may result because 
of the intensitj^ of the application. The intensity may be either in 
the abruptness or in the absolute amount of force used. There are 
certain leverages in the body by which a sufficient force may be ap- 
plied to rupture the strongest ligament, while a force not so great 
but suddenly applied may easily produce serious injury. 

The harm may result because the treatment is too prolonged. 
In such a case the tissue either becomes exhausted or what is more 
common, overirritated, with a resulting congested or inflamed local 
area. In the same way irritation may follow too frequent treatment, 
in which time for repair is not given. Under such circumstances 
there is little possibility of producing satisfactory results and much 
chance of causing further disorder. 

The above considerations on the possibility of harm from treat- 
ment wrongly applied are not given simply because of theoretical 
reasons. Sufficient evidence is brought forward to show that dis- 
order has resulted. With ordinary care and average judgment the 
treatment is entirely harmless, but where those qualities are lacking 
it may not be so. In any case it would not be a difficult matter to 
show that while there may be some danger associated with the 
administration of osteopathic treatment it is infinitely more safe 
than that of drugging. 

With reference to the method of the movement that may be 
employed it is necessary to emphasize that probably no two prac- 
titioners who have been long in the field execute a particular treat- 
ment in exactly the same way. There are a large number of meth- 
ods in the employment of the same principles of adjustment, each 
of which may, under certain circumstances, present its own advan- 
tages. Individuals differ in the ease with which a movement can 
be executed. Hence it is illogical for a teacher to insist that a 
method must be employed because it is the correct one. It is not 
necessarily so. The patients themselves differ quite markedly in 
reference to the readiness with which they yield to particular treat- 
ment and it is found by experience that what is perfectly appro- 
priate in one individual may not be satisfactory in another although 
the lesion may to all appearances be the same in each case. True, 



TIME REQUIRED 149 

in all movements account must be taken of the leverage employed; 
the physician must know the situation of articulation, the attach- 
ments of muscles and the like. But he can only know these as they 
exist in the average case. Every new case will present new condi- 
tions and will require at least slight differences in the application of 
treatment. Hence in a later section discussion is given to a few 
common movements that are in general use merely to emphasize 
and illustrate the principles that underly every adjustment that is 
effective. The mere imitation of any physician's peculiar methods 
is always unsatisfactory. Understand the forces it is necessary to 
use, determine in each case through what parts these forces may be 
applied, then adapt the method to the circumstances of the case. 
By following such a plan the student becomes a man of emergencies 
and learns to use his mental powers on each individual case instead 
of yielding to the pernicious habit of passing each of his cases 
through the routine of an unvarying set of manipulations. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

STIMULATION AND INHIBITION 

Like all systems of healing, osteopathy has been presented by 
various classes of its advocates in various disguises, and as a result 
has been at times entirely misrepresented. "While it is a matter of 
course that its professed enemies should attempt to mislead, it is 
quite unfortunate that there are a few of its professed followers 
who, in attempting to uphold the system, have unwittingly placed 
it on a par with other systems by imitating or directly asserting 
that osteopathy is a method of treatment by mechanical stimulation 
and inhibition of nerve impulses. It cannot be too strongly empha- 
sized that such a position places the osteopath on the same plane 
with all other schools of healing, the underlying principle being the 
same in kind and differing only in method. He who assumes that 
the above definition of osteopathy is a new conception in therapeu- 
tics and one which embraces the essentials of the osteopathic phil- 
osophy has not only failed entirely to grasp that philosophy but 
has shown an ignorance of medical history quite unjustified. For 
such history is replete with evidences that mechanical stimulation 
and inhibition applied by definite manipulations have long been 
known and used — centuries before osteopathy had been brought into 
the world. But with the rise and development of osteopathy and 
the newly awakened interest in drugless systems which in part re- 
sulted from that development, these various methods have been 
subjected to investigation as never before through the study of 
literature bearing on the subject and the application of mechanical 
measures to disease conditions. Hence, by a hasty though not unnat- 
ural inference, was deduced the conclusion that the new method 
was but a special modification and extension of the old. It is suffi- 
cient in this connection to affirm that stimulation and inhibition as 
definite osteopathic procedures are measures that have been super- 
added to the original and primary conception, and in so far as they 
may be used at all are insignificant in importance. 

The last statement suggests that there is a possible use for these 
methods and under the circumstances of an undeveloped and incom- 

150 



STIMULATION AND INHIBITION 151 

plete science and a lack of knowledge and skill on the part of the 
practitioner the statement may be true. Under certain circumstances 
it may be impossible or impracticable for the osteopath to apply 
specific osteopathic treatment and in such cases it will be expedient 
for him to place himself upon the same plane with the practitioner 
of other schools and use the least objectionable of the methods of 
the latter. In order to understand the nature and possible value 
of these methods it seems advisable to speak of them somewhat in 
detail. 

By stimulation of a nerve or an organ is meant the process of 
acceleration of the function of that nerve or organ. By inhibition 
is meant the process of retarding the function of a nerve or organ. 
Both of these processes are attributes of normal living tissue, more 
especially of the nervous system. The voluntary contraction of a 
muscle is a normal or physiological stimulation of that muscle; the 
effect of food on the gastric mucosa is a normal stimulation of the 
function of secretion; the excess of carbon dioxid in the blood is 
a physiological stimulus to the respiratory center. On the other 
hand a voluntary impulse sent to the spinal cord center which cuts 
off the reflex movement that would otherwise occur is an instance 
of a physiological inhibition; the vagus nerve carries inhibitory 
fibres to the heart muscle which retards the activity of that tissue ; 
impulses passing by way of the sympathetic filaments to the mus- 
cles within the wall of the intestinal tract causing a slower peris- 
talsis are spoken of as viscero-inhibitory. These are all examples 
of the physiological or natural inhibition. By mechanical stimula- 
tion or inhibition reference is made to the artificial process which 
causes or is supposed to cause by pressure a similar effect. Note 
that the process is artificial. A mechanical stimulus applied by the 
hand of the practitioner is emphatically not a natural but an arti- 
ficial stimulus. 

It is said that the liver is stimulated by producing pressure 
directly on it or by otherwise compressing it; the pneumogastric 
nerve is stimulated by pressure along its course for the purpose of 
increasing its function in lessening the cardiac activity; in prolap- 
sus of the rectum the atonic walls are stimulated by local treatment. 
On the other hand the physician inhibits the phrenic nerve for 
controlling hiccoughs ; pressure exerted along the splanchnic region 



152 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

inhibits the cramping in various forms of colic; pressure exerted 
in the lumbar and sacral regions and along the course of the sciatic 
nerve will often temporarily relieve sciatica. 

These treatments are referred to as stimulating or inhibitory 
and the assumption made that it is in truth the increasing or the 
lessening of nerve action by a direct process. Is such a control 
possible? The author has heard the human body compared to the 
piano upon which the practitioner plays, bringing out the harmony 
of action as the musician produces the harmony of tone. He has 
heard it compared to an electric system upon which the intelligent 
osteopath may send messages and shunt the currents and connect 
the circuits. The statement has been made that the vital fluids and 
forces of the body are absolutely under the control of the skillful 
operator. The essential thing lacking in these comparisons and 
statements is the element of truth. The human body is not at all 
like a piano, neither does the osteopath play upon it as would the 
musician. It is not an electric system that can be operated upon 
to any degree as the electrician manipulates his batteries or his 
keys. The forces and fluids of the body are fortunately beyond 
the control of the physician, skillful though he be. 

A few facts with reference to anatomy and physiology may not 
be out of place as indicating the insurmountable difficulties in the 
way of securing the absolute control suggested above. It seems 
advisable to again repeat that function is self regulative and struc- 
ture nearly so, and it is the business of the osteopath to deal with 
structure, not function, and to deal with structure only as that 
structure is in an abnormal condition. But can the nerve be stimu- 
lated and satisfactory results follow? 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

DIFFICULTIES OF DIRECT CONTROL 

In the first place we are just beginning to learn the functions 
of nerves. There are a few hundred million nerve fibres in the 
human body the function of most of which are known only in part. 
It was thought that the function of the pneumogastric in reference 
to the heart was known to be inhibitory, yet it carries also accel- 
erator fibres. It was assumed that the efferent tract that passes 
from cortex to muscle carries only an impulse resulting in con- 
traction, but evidence is accumulating to show that it carries also 
an inhibitory impulse. It was believed that the sacral nerves car- 
ried motor impulses to one layer of muscle tissue in the rectal 
wall and inhibitory impulses to the other layer, but Langley, An- 
derson, and others have exploded the '* crossed innervation" theory. 
In the light of these facts as to the function of the nerves it is 
presumption to assume that any such marked control over func- 
tions as suggested above can be gained. 

Greater difficulty in securing a very complete control of nerve 
action by direct means is obvious when the fact is noted that the 
same nerve may have different functions. Bear in mind that the 
nerve is not a separate structure but is made up of an indefinite 
number of nerve fibres each one of which may be associated with 
a distinct and different action. The vagus, for instance, has efferent 
fibres controlling motion and vaso-motion, secretion, inhibition and 
trophicity (?), and efferent fibres associated with sensation, vomit- 
ing, vaso-dilatation, and perhaps a host of others. All these are 
bound up in the same sheath. Imagine the nicety of control possi- 
ble to the practitioner under such an anatomical arrangement ! Any 
efferent nerve may, on being stimulated by mechanical means, mod- 
ify any of the numerous functions of a spinal segment. Who will 
direct the excess of impulse into the right channel? Nearly every 
nerve that carries vaso-constrictor fibres carries also those of a 
dilator function. The presumption in claiming an arbitrary choice 
of effects in vaso-motor stimulation is evident. 

A third fact is noted in that the nerve it is desired to affect 

153 



154 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

may not be ii. its usual situation. The inhibition of the phrenic 
nerve is often imj^ossible because of the simple fact that it is not 
in tlie location where pressure is applied. Any one who has had 
occasion to do much work in the dissecting room will be impressed 
with the numerous exceptions to the rules of location of structures. 
Attention was recently called to a case showing the spinal acces- 
sory nerve passing across the end of the transverse process of the 
atlas. 

In close connection with the above the fact should be noted that 
the vast majority of nerves are beyond the possibility of direct 
manipulation, a very wise provision of nature. Stimulating the 
splanchnic nerves is spoken of as though these structures were laid 
bare to the touch. Perhaps in reality there is produced acceleration 
of function in many cases. But it certainly must be done through 
a very indirect route, and that through the complex arrangement 
of a reflex mechanism. 

The latter suggests a fifth very real difficulty in the way. Most 
stimulating and inhibiting treatments are explained on such a reflex 
basis, an explanation which in some cases seems rather strained. 
Note that in the stimulation of the nerves associated with the spinal 
region, for the purpose of affecting the splanchnic nerves must pass 
by the afferent spinal fibres — fibres which have a choice of many 
neurons to which their charge may be delivered. It is but a remote 
possibility rather than a likely probability that sufficient of the 
excess of stimuli shall reach those cell bodies whose axons pass to 
form the splanchnic pathways. The argument that use is made 
of that explanation for the visceral disorders resulting from spinal 
muscle contracture does not particularly enhance the proposition 
that the osteopath can cause the effect that is produced by the lesion. 
Note that the lesion is either a much more intense stimulus or is 
prolonged over a greater period of time. Should the osteopath 
keep up continuous stimulation of such nerves for some hours suffi- 
cient excess of stimuli might be discharged into the splanchnic chan- 
nels to amount to a real stimulation. But no such length of stim- 
ulation period is indulged in by the average practitioner. Further, 
to argue that the excess will all be poured into the channels needing 
it because nature "tends to the normal," hardly meets the demands. 
It is true that nature tends to the normal, but it is further true that 
so far as function is concerned the tendency is in part toward that 



DIFFICULTIES OF DIRECT CONTROL 155 

condition which is normal to the existing structure, i. e., to that con- 
dition which is permitted by the existing structure. So long as 
structural conditions are at fault the functions are likely to remain 
so. When those conditions are overcome no additional stimulus is 
necessary. 

A further difficulty presents itself in cases where the stimulus 
may be applied either directly or reflexly. The intensity of the stim- 
ulus cannot be gauged in proportion to the need in the particular 
case. In laboratory work in physiology the mechanical stimulus 
is seldom made use of for this simple reason. It is effective but 
can-not be regulated in intensity, hence the use of the electric stim- 
ulus which is susceptible of nicety of control. How much pressure 
shall be employed in order that the exact amount of increase of 
function shall be produced? There can be no answer to the question. 
Why not employ the electric stimulus, then, instead of the mechan- 
ical in osteopathic practice? For the very good reason that electro- 
therapists themselves have tried it and found it wanting. And 
not because of any necessarily harmful effect on the tissues pro- 
duced by the current as such but because the positive results were 
unsatisfactory. That it will be found equally true of the mechan- 
ical stimulation we are thoroughly convinced. 

We have finally to mention a fact that is of first importance 
and that is that in all cases where function is artificially changed 
by increase or decrease there will be a recoil in the opposite di- 
rection. This is notably true with respect to experimental stim- 
ulation in the laboratory. Goltz's experiment on the inhibitory 
action of the cardiac nerves of the frog is a case in point. The 
following is the description of the experiment: "In a medium 
sized frog the pericardium was exposed by carefully cutting a 
small window in the chest wall. The pulsations of the heart could 
be seen through the thin pericardial membrane. Goltz now began 
to beat upon the abdomen about 140 times a minute with the handle 
of a scalpel. The heart gradually slowed and at length stood still 
in diastole. Goltz now ceased the rain of little blows. The heart 
remained quiet for a time and then began to beat again, at first 
slowly, and then more rapidly. Some time after the experiment 
the heart beat about five strokes in a minute faster than before the 



156 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

experiment was begun. The effect cannot be obtained after section 
of the vagi,"^ Note that the final effect was not inhibition, but 
stimulation. 

Some experimentation has been and is being done at the present 
time by osteopathic investigators to show that a direct effect can 
be produced in case of man and lower animals (rabbit) by stimu- 
lation and inhibition in connection with the cardiac nerves and the 
splanchnics, a proposition to which assent has already been given. 
While these explanations seem to substantiate the proposition that 
such a direct action is possible it remains to be shown that the 
effect is at all permanent or advisable, and more especially to prove 
that a recoil is not inevitable or probable. Further observation of 
such experimentation is awaited with interest. What is true in those 
cases in which accurate experimentation is possible is reasonably 
true of all others. Any swing of the pendulum past the position 
which is normal under the existing circumstances will be compen- 
sated for by a recoil of opposite sign. Note the fact that the organ- 
ism brooks no interference with its function and will return to its 
normal activity when it has by sudden force been disturbed in that 
activity. 

Thus far reference has been made to some of the difficulties 
which beset him who would attempt by nerve stimulation or inhi- 
bition to secure a definite control over the functions of the organism. 
A.dmitting that notwithstanding these difficulties there is still pos- 
sible a limited and temporary control, it is necessary to consider 
certain objections to the use of these measures, and also the con- 
ditions where such treatment might be necessary or helpful. 



^American Text-Book of Physiology. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

USB AND ABUSE OF DIRECT CONTROL 

By stimulating or inhibiting a nerve or other structure the 
physician interferes with normal function. It has before been sug- 
gested that function is normal to structure. Making simply a gen- 
eral statement, every function, be it usual or unusual, is what it 
should be under the circumstances of existing structure. An in- 
creased peripheral resistance to the blood flow causes an overactive 
heart. This latter condition is normal under the circumstances. It 
must increase its activity in order to keep up normal circulation. 
The attempt to limit the heart's action by inhibiting it is a distinct 
hindrance and an illogical treatment. Suppose that the peripheral 
resistance was maintained so long as to exhaust the heart's action. 
The lessened force resulting is still normal to the structural con- 
ditions. The stomach in discharging its contents through the esoph- 
agus is performing a normal function and so long as it can by that 
method rid itself of irritant material vomiting should be unhindered. 

Note further that a stimulus applied to a failing function is 
in many cases crowding an already overworked organ. Notice one 
of the foregoing illustrations. When the heart by reason of an 
imperfect blood supply, through lesion or otherwise, is weakened, 
the work it is performing represents its capacity at the time. If 
a stimulus is applied to the accelerator nerves to hasten its action, 
only an earlier exhaustion can be the result. Attention is called to 
the fact that the accelerators like other motor nerves cause an in- 
creased muscle activity, they increase its tone, its excitability, and 
its conductivity, which in turn is associated with a more rapid kata- 
bolism. Hence in causing this increase only a more rapid exhaustion 
of the reserve force stored in the heart muscle or in other centers 
of supply is produced. The same principle is applied to each organ 
in the body. Its function is not decreased because of an inherent 
laziness, but because of the adverse effect produced upon it by 
incorrect structural conditions, or by toxic states or by lack of 
nutritive material. 

157 



158 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

The reaction may be as great as the original action. Leaving the 
structural conditions as they are, a temporarily accelerated peristalsis 
of the intestine is followed by a period of still further diminished 
bowel activity. Just as in the use of a cathartic a constantly in- 
creasing dose is necessary to produce an action till finally it becomes 
ineifective, so a mechanical stimulus will be followed by a lessening 
response. A stimulation of the vaso-constrictors is followed by a 
great vascular dilatation. An inhibitory treatment for pain is oc- 
casionally followed by a return of the sensory disorder in greater 
intensity. 

In many cases the palliative treatment serves only to conceal 
a serious condition. Osteopaths condemn the old school practice 
of giving morphine for lessening pain and yet in numerous instances 
make use of exactly the same reasoning and practice with barely 
a thought of the consequences. The concealment of a pain condition 
from the patient by any treatment without the removal of its cause 
is a crime against the patient, if the pain is necessary for diagnosis of 
the case. The plea that the patient insists on it or that it gives 
nature a chance for repair is seldom a sufficient justification. The 
lessening of a rapid heart beat often gives a sense of security en- 
tirely unwarranted by the real state of that organ. The "tonic" 
treatment gives a temporary sense of exhilaration similar in kind 
if not in degree to that following moderate doses of morphine or 
alcohol. This form of deception is little more justifiable than any 
other and as often results disastrously. 

These statements do not apply to the use of palliative measures 
after the corrective treatment has been decided upon, or in those 
cases in which fatal outcome is to be anticipated. Relief of pain 
under such circumstances is the duty of any physician. 

A final objection that is exemplified occasionally is the fact 
that a treatment habit may just as really be formed as a drug habit. 
In both cases the organism eventually tends to rely on the artificial 
stimulus instead of the natural one for its proper functioning. That 
individual who requires frequent treatment to be kept in normal 
''tone" is as much a treatment habitue as he who requires the 
daily application of the needle, a morphine fiend. And yet many 
osteopaths pander to the temptation by advertising the value and 
pleasure to be derived from a ''tonic" treatment. 



USK AND ABUSE OF DIRECT CONTROf. 



159 



But it would be incorrect to leave the impression that such 
attempt at direct control is never justified. Experience seems to 
suggest that while there are numerous possibilities of ineffectiveness 
or of real harm in such purely palliative treatment there are occas- 
ions where such procedures may be a choice of evils. For it cannot 
be denied that in many cases stimulating and inhibitory treatments 
have been and will continue to be given with marked benefit. Note 
that it is insisted that the good results gotten are necessarily de- 
pendent on nerve stimulation or inhibition. To this phase of the 
question reference will be made later. At present mention will be 
made of those cases in which such treatment is theoretically or 
practically demanded. 

Indications for Attempts at Direct Control 

In those cases where a lesion is not apparent, and no other 
known cause is apparent a treatment in the region of innervation 
is often seemingly helpful. In occasional cases the ordinary prac- 
titioner will not be able to detect splanchnic or other lesion affecting 
the stomach and yet stomach trouble exists. Treatment applied 
in the lesion region for such disorders is effective. A lax condition 
of the general circulatory mechanism is sometimes seen where no 
definite lesion can be assigned for the disorder. A general spinal 
"toning up" is resorted to with at least temporary benefit. An over- 
active peristalsis is often checked by strong pressure in the lumbar 
or lower thoracic region. Pain is lessened by treatment over the 
structures associated with the sensory nerve involved. 

It would seem to be helpful to apply a stimulus after removal 
of lesion or other cause. The analogy is drawn between the cases 
of a stalled horse whose progress is hindered by a stone in front 
of the wheels of a vehicle, and an organ working against a hinder- 
ing lesion. In each case the propelling force has become discouraged. 
After removal of the stone it may be helpful to "touch up" the 
horse with a whip, and likewise to "touch up" the organ through 
its nerve mechanism. The liver is often directly manipulated by 
pressure after the spinal lesion is removed. The sluggish kidney 
responds to treatment after the lumbar lesion is removed. A uterine 
headache will be sooner overcome if a cervical treatment is given 
following the adjustment of the uterus than would otherwise be 
the ease. 



160 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

In rare cases removal of the cause may be impossible or imprac- 
ticable. In such cases it is a question whether to leave all to nature 
or to attempt to bring out any latent power of nature that the con- 
dition itself fails to arouse. In ankylosis of the spine the lesion is a 
bony union and as such is practically impossible of removal. The 
functions interfered with thereby may be aided by occasional treat- 
ment of the spinal regions and of the involved organs directly. In- 
tense nervous or mental excitement interfering with direct treatment 
to the primary lesion may be decreased by pressure applied in the 
suboccipital region; it may be necessary to lessen pain, where pres- 
ent in such intensity as to prevent use of the various methods of 
diagnosis or treatment. 

In some cases direct stimulation may force an obstruction and 
hence be a factor in the removal of a lesion as well as in overcoming 
an effect. Increasing the heart's force may overcome a congested 
venous or capillary condition. Direct work over the liver may in- 
crease bile secretion and thereby assist in removing obstruction to 
the gall-duct. Direct treatment to muscle tissues may assist in 
adjusting the structures to which those tissues are attached. 

In occasional instances it may be necessary to resort to heroic 
measures in order to tide over the crisis. In case of a sudden heart 
failure direct pressure over the solar plexus or manipulation in the 
accelerator region may assist in preventing collapse; in case of 
hemorrhage an extreme stimulus applied to the part may tempor- 
arily check the flow; spasmodic laryngitis or croup may be prevented 
from terminating fatally through strangulation, by treatment of 
the laryngeal and other structures. 

In some cases it may be advisable for the osteopath to place 
himself on the same plane with the old school physician and treat 
the symptoms as they arise, for it is to be noted that a symptom 
may in some cases seem to be a distinct hindrance to normal process- 
es of repair. "With reference to pain, while it is of value to the 
organism in numerous ways its great intensity in some cases ren- 
ders it a distinct disadvantage and inhibition may become helpful 
by lessening the nerve disturbance, thereby giving the organism a 
better opportunity for repair. An excessively high temperature 
becomes a menace to the life of the individual and direct treatment 
for purposes of lowering that temperature may be called for. The 
rapid waste of the fluids of the body in certain diarrhoeic conditions 



USE AND ABUSli OF DIRECT CONTROL 161 

contributes to an undue weakness and may be prevented by inhibi- 
tory treatment. In case of excessive vomiting when all is ejected 
the nervous disorder permitting it may be adjusted by inhibitory 
treatment. 

It will be noticed that in most of the foregoing cases the treat- 
ment partakes largely of the nature of a choice of evils and suggests 
what it is necessary to emphasize continually, that these measures 
are only to be employed where, in the judgment of the physician, 
the primary and logical treatment, removal of the cause, is not im- 
mediately possible or practicable, and in those cases in which symp- 
toms persist after corrective treatment. 

But if further analysis is made of the above cases it will be 
found that the words stimulation and inhibition are deceptive in 
many cases. In the ordinary acceptation of those terms it would 
be understood that the function of the part disordered was in- 
creased or decreased directly or through its connecting nerve. But 
this reasoning is erroneous. In the first set of conditions referred 
to stimulation was employed where no apparent lesion was present. 
Emphatically that does not mean that no lesion was present. In 
the application of a stimulating treatment to the region of inner- 
vation, it is reasonable that instead of pure stimulation of those 
nerves by a quick pressure alternating with relaxation there results 
in reality a removal of actual impingement upon nerve or other 
structures which rendered their activity subnormal. Note a typical 
case. In occasional instances of constipation no very distinct spinal 
lesion is apparent ; all experience indicates that a stimulating treat- 
ment through the lower thoracic and lumbar regions is more effect- 
ive than is a quiet pressure treatment; if the results were depend- 
ent upon direct efforts produced on the splanchnic nerves the latter 
form of treatment should be the more effective, for the physiological 
result of stimulation of the splanchnic nerves is a lessened peris- 
talsis. In such a case as this there is undoubtedly produced an effect 
upon the involved nerves, but it is done indirectly through the re- 
moval of pressure conditions in the spinal region which were pro- 
ducing the existing inhibitory effect. What is true of the stimula- 
tion in this case is probably true in the vast majority of cases. 
If it is the direct stimulant effect on the nerve, why will not titilla- 
tion of the skin in the process of tickling, or the application of an 
electric stimulus be productive of equally good or better results? 



162 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

In the second class of conditions the analogy between the horse 
and the organ is far-fetched. While it is true that the horse may 
become discouraged there is nothing to indicate a possibility of 
a similar condition in case of an organ; on removal of the lesion 
the disease condition itself is the only "touching up" process neces- 
sary to arouse the entire responsive powers of the organism. When 
the removal of the lesion is impossible the so-called stimulation 
may, perhaps, be a real, though incomplete removal of a part of the 
lesion condition. Any breaking up treatment of the spine in the 
rigid condition of that structure opens up the tissues and undoubt- 
edly frees the nerve and vascular mechanism of the spine sufficiently 
to account for the benefit that results from the treatment. 

With reference to the inhibition of pain which is the typical 
example of the value of inhibition as a therapeutic measure, a few 
considerations may not be out of place. This proposition is 
fundamental: the success in overcoming any pain condition is in 
direct proportion to the amount of structural adjustment effected. 
Given a pain condition with little removable structural change pres- 
ent, the possibility of diminishing that pain will be a minimum; 
with the more removable structural abnormality associated with 
the pain will go the maximum possibility of pain removal. For 
instance, there are numerous cases of pain resulting from visceral 
disorders. In these cases there will be muscle contractures in the 
spinal region either primary or secondary. In either case the pain 
will be overcome in proportion to the extent to which the muscular 
contracture or other lesion is diminished. Reference has been made 
to the fact that in experimental physiology it is most difficult to 
apply pressure gradually enough to prevent stimulation, not to 
speak of the possibility of lessening the nerve action concerned. 

Pressure upon tissues diminishes the amount of liquid within 
their meshes; this applies to lymph and blood, as well as to ede- 
matous fluids. When the pressure is removed, the fresh arterial 
blood flows more freely, and the alkalinity of the tissues is restored, 
and edematous fluids are less freely formed. 

Physiological experimentation shows that the stretching pro- 
cess at first renders the nerve protoplasm more irritable; if long 
continued its irritability becomes lessened or totally destroyed, 
in which case there must be produced a disturbance in the arrange- 



USE AND ABUSE OF DIRECT CONTROL 163 

ment of the protoplasmic molecules such as to interfere with their 
normal relationships. Such an explanation may account for the 
good effects that often follow the stretching of the sciatic nerve 
in so called sciatic rheumatism. The other explanation is the more 
probable, that, by the hyper-extension of the limb, tension of the 
associated structures is removed with a resulting lessening impinge- 
ment upon the nerve and its branches. 

In summing up the discussion emphasis is to be laid upon the 
fact that the removal of lesion or other cause of disorder constitutes 
the logical treatment for that disorder. When a structure or organ 
needs stimulating or inhibiting, it can be done in but one proper 
way and that an indirect way, by removal of the cause that makes 
it necessary to stimulate or inhibit. Hence the two following sim- 
ilar propositions may be formulated: 

1. The necessity for stimulation presupposes an existing inhi- 
bition; the removal of the cause of that existing inhibition consti- 
tutes the legitimate method of stimulation. 

2. The necessity for inhibition presupposes an existing stim- 
ulation; the removal of the cause of that existing stimulation con- 
stitutes the legitimate method of inhibition. 

These propositions are fundamental and comprehend the essence 
of the osteopathic view of the treatment of disordered conditions, 
and are applicable to the entire field of disease. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

TREATMENT OF DISEASE CAUSED BY ABUSE 

In discussing the causes of disease attention was called to the 
fact that abuse of an organ or its function ultimately produces a 
diseased condition of that organ. What constitutes the legitimate 
treatment for such cases? It is obvious that what is undoubtedly 
called for is the negative treatment of simply stopping the abuse. 
If stomach disorder be caused by continuous overloading, lessen the 
load. If writer's cramp result from excessive exercise of the limited 
set of muscles, stop writing. If the environment conditions are such 
as to subject the individual to abuse of the respiratory tract, move 
out and away from such environment. This proposition seems valid : 
in case of disease due only to abuse and not associated with struc- 
tural disorder, no positive manipulative treatment is indicated. 
Through ages of false training the belief has become established 
that for every apparent disorder something should be done in the 
way of definite artificial treatment. Reliance has heretofore been 
placed on the drug. With the one who has learned of the efficacy 
of osteopathic measures he assumes a treatment is necessary under 
the similar circumstances. In many cases he is right. In numerous 
cases he is wrong. In those cases where temporary disorder results 
from manifest abuse, treatment is unnecessary and perhaps harm- 
ful. In this regard advocates of any form of psychic therapeutics 
are essentially correct. Let alone, nature will be the all-sufficient 
factor in cure. But experience and reason both indicate that there 
are limits to the recuperative power of nature, and osteopaths em- 
phasize that in many cases that limit is represented by a definite 
obstruction in the machinery through which nature manifests her 
curative power. In such case artificial aid is indicated. Note this 
fact: most cases primarily due to abuse are not unassociated with 
structural disturbance. 

In many cases a predisposing lesion is present which represents 
a factor involving definite difficulty in nature's reparative process. 
In other cases secondary lesions will arise which add to the disorder 
and constitute new causal factors. In' both of these cases definite 
manipulative treatment is called for and without question is advan- 

164 



TREATMENT OF DISEASE CAUSED BY ABUSE 165 

* 

tageous. Hence it is found that cases in which treatment is not 
necessary or helpful are comparatively rare, and the osteopath 
should never fail to carefully examine a condition before he pro- 
nounces it a case requiring no treatment except the negative one 
of abstinence. 

Will a patient recover under osteopathic manipulation when 
he refuses or is unable to abstain from abuse? Numerous cases 
of such are found. Occupations requiring life in adverse circum- 
stances of environment must be continued by many in order that 
life itself may be supported. The miner still must live in the mine, 
the writer still must use his exhausted fingers, the unfortunate 
must still use ill-nourishing food. Can such recover? In countless 
cases, yes. In any case, only with greater difficulty. As illustration 
may be cited any number of cases of eye trouble that have been 
successfully treated in osteopathic colleges while the patient was 
taking the school course, and was compelled thereby to abuse his 
eyes. So long, however, as abuse is the sole factor, which is only 
an occasional condition, little can be done if the abuse is continued. 

On the other hand, Avill a patient recover, if predisposing or 
secondary lesions be present, no manipulative treatment be given 
and the patient simply abstains from abuse? Undoubtedly in a 
large number of cases. For it has already been shown that while 
function is much more markedly self-regulative than structure, 
yet the natural processes of the body alone are successful, in many 
cases, in overcoming definite structural changes. This is the more 
noticeably the case with reference to the lesions which have arisen 
as secondary processes during the course of abuse than in those 
cases in which a predisposing lesion was present from the beginning. 
In the latter case it may be that the tendency to the disorder is not 
overcome, and hence the condition regained be that of the organism 
previous to the abuse; the lesion with its associated predisposition 
still exists. Occasionally, however, after injury or abuse of an 
organ, the reaction may involve related structures, the lesion pre- 
disposing to disease be corrected by natural forces alone, and com- 
plete recovery occur. 

In all cases in which lesion conditions of any kind are present, 
good practice and common sense indicate that both removal of the 
lesion and of the abuse must go hand in hand if the most satisfac- 
tory results are to be obtained. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

OSTEOPATHY AND CELL LIFE 

The inherent power of the organism to adjust itself must, in 
the last analysis, rest in the power of individual cells to act, not only 
as individuals, but also as units of the organism as a whole. 

"In multicellular organisms, every cell must maintain its struc- 
tural integrity if it is to maintain its normal function. Things 
which affect the gross structure of the body are efficient causes of 
mal-f unction only as they affect the structure or the environment 
of the cells of the tissues. This is the reason why gross deform- 
ities so often cause only slight mal-function, — the cells remain fairly 
normal in structure and environment. For the most part, however, 
gross changes do affect cell structure and environment; it is only 
occasionally that individual cells remain unaffected by deformities."^ 

''Cells vary greatly in size, shape and micro-chemical reactions; 
these structural variations are associated with corresponding func- 
tional activities. The cells of any one tissue present certain simi- 
larities of structure, so that the tissue from which any group of 
cells is taken may be recognized by the characteristics of the cells 
and their relationships. The substance of which cells are composed 
is so nearly alike that it is all spoken of by one term, being called 
'"protoplasm." Living protoplasm can neither be analyzed nor 
synthesized. The very act of analysis destroys the molecule of dead 
protoplasm, to say nothing of that which is living. During life 
there is constant flux; nourishment is constantly being taken in, 
digested, built into living tissue, or built into deutoplasmic mater- 
ial of extremely variable types; the molecules employed for storing 
energy or food are constantly being built, utilized and destroyed; 
katabolites are constantly being produced and eliminated, so that 
at no two consecutive instants of time is any mass of protoplasm 
identical. 

"Now life is something of which we know practically nothing, 
except as it manifests itself. It is impossible to define life in any 
exact manner. This is also true of every fundamental thing; no 



^Burns: Basic Principles. 

166 



OSTEOPATHY AND CELL LIFE 167 

one can exactly define life, heat, force, matter, the elements, our 
own minds, yet we all know that these things act, and how to use 
them in many ways. Herbert Spencer's definition of life, — ''the 
continual adjustment of internal conditions to external relations*' 
is an expression of this fact. Dr. A. T. Still's definition presents 
a similar view, ''Life is an individualized Principle of Nature."^ 

"In living substance, the matter exists in the form of a large 
number of very complex labile compounds, — complexes of molecules. 
Verworn objects to the term "living molecule' as the word molecule 
signifies a definite chemical compound of some stability, while in- 
stability and change are the essential characteristics of living sub- 
stance. He therefore suggests the term "biogen" to designate 
those exceedingly complex compounds that are at the focus of life 
and by means of which vital phenomena are manifested. ' '^ 

Each of these molecules may be considered as a machine for 
the performance of certain duties in the life history of the cell. 
If these machines are inefficient, the duties involving upon them must 
be improperly performed. 

"By chemistry the truths of physiology are firmly established 
in the mind of the student of nature, that in man a chemistry of 
wonderful powers does all the work of animal forms, and that in 
the laboratory of nature's chemistry is the ruling power. Thus in 
chemistry we become acquainted with the law of cause and change 
in union, which is a standard law sought by the student of oste- 
opathy."^ 

**As the result of the peculiarities of cell structure and the 
relations of its biogens, each cell and probably each part of the cell 
has tlfe power to select just the quality and quantity of each mater- 
ial from the blood and lymph that it needs for its nourishment and 
function. 

This selective function, as it is called, is often affected in various 
ways and results in many disorders, When for any reason, the nor- 
mal protoplasmic activity is disturbed, naturally the function of the 
cell is disturbed and the cell may be invaded by substances that it 
does not need, in fact that it can not make use of. As a result 



^Spring, C. F., The Cell. 

^Hulett, C M. T.: Biological Basis of Osteopathy. 

•"^A. T, Still: Research and Practice. 



168 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

inert and sometimes harmful substances may be deposited within 
or around the cells. This is the case in the formation of gouty 
tophi, uratic deposits, and the various degenerations and infiltra- 
tions. On the other hand, the cell may fail to take up that which 
it ought and the cell be poorly nourished. These trophic disturb- 
ances are very numerous and are manifest by a vast number of 
symptoms. 

''The rebuilding process of the tissue cells is not very clearly 
known; for just why the cell selects certain elements and rejects 
the remainder is not known. Of the organic foods, the proteids 
seem to be the only ones that enter into the building up of the cells. 
The carbohydrates and fats are the energy producers. The pro- 
teids, in the absence of the fats and carbohydrates, furnish some 
energy, so that it is possible to maintain life for an indefinite period 
on proteids alone ; though not at the best advantage. 

'*The selective function is found not only in the cell as a whole, 
but in the protoplasmic molecule as well. "^ 



^Spring, loc. cit. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

CELLS OF MULTICELLULAR ORGANISMS 

'*It is very necessary for the higher forms of animals to be 
composed of cells instead of a single mass of protoi)lasm for three 
reasons. First, to give form to the body there must be a hardened 
tissue (formed by a certain kind of cells) to act as support in order 
that the form may be maintained. The nature of the cell in this 
tissue must be such that it will stand considerable strain and pres- 
sure to form a steadfast framework. This frame is covered and 
rounded out with muscle and other tissue, and different kinds of 
cell formation. Second, that the function of the body may be in- 
creased to the highest state of efficiency. Since each part is formed 
by a certain kind of cell, organized to perform a certain function, 
it can do this better than an undifferentiated mass which must do 
all kinds of work and therefore can do none well. 

''Third, for the sake of nutrition. Small cells, bathed in nu- 
tritious lymph, are easily and quickly fed, while their wastes are 
easily and quickly removed. A large protoplasmic mass with a 
single nucleus fails in these respects. The surface of any mass 
varies according to the square of the diameter; the mass varies as 
the cube. Hence, the larger the cell, the more disproportionate is 
the relation between nutrition — ^providing surface and nutrition — 
demanding mass. 

"Metabolism may be defined as 'any change produced in the 
body upon matter by living tissue.' This process is confined to the 
organism, with living tissue as the actor and the matter acted upon 
n?ay be either living or lifeless material. Naturally then this subject 
comprises many different activities in the body. 

"For the sake of convenience metabolism is divided into two 
sub-heads, anabolism and katabolism. Anabolism comprises those 
processes which are constructive in nature, or building up ; while 
katabolism is the destructive process, or breaking down. These 
are very closely related and occur simultaneously. Every movement, 
every chemical change, in fact every manifestation of life, is evi- 
dence of metabolic processes at work." 

"The energetics of a cell present themselves in various forms, 
which may be grouped as resisting or potential energy and as moving 
or kinetic energy. Among the former we have chemical, osmotic, 
cohesion and gravitation forces, and among the latter mechanical 
power, heat, light and electricity. But naturally this classification 

^Spring, loe. cit. 169 



170 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

is not iixed, because some of these energies may present themselves 
in either form. The chemical energy, for example, remains potential 
only so long as the atoms retain their position toward one another 
and become kinetic as soon as they arrange themselves in accord- 
ance with specific affinities. Thus the animal receives potential 
chemical energy in the shape of complex organic substances and 
oxygen. The regrouping of the former under the influence of 
oxygen eventually gives rise to carbon dioxid, water and simpler 
nitrogenous bodies as well as to a large amount of actual (kinetic) 
energy. Metabolism, therefore, is intended to keep the organism 
in energy-equilibrium. The chemical intake and outgo are balanced 
in such a way that the cells can continue to furnish the energy 
required of them. The metabolic equilibrium and the dynamical 
equilibrium must in the long run pursue a parallel course."^ 

"The activities of living organisms consist of responses to 
stimuli. A stimulus may be anything which produces a change 
in spontaneous vital phenomena. The character and degree of re- 
sponse depends upon the chemical and physical forces involved in 
the constitution of the organism and its relations to its environment. 

■'Typical living substance existing in an ideal environment, in 
which the conditions of vital phenomena — the character of the sur- 
rounding medium, the food supply, moisture, heat and light — were 
exactly suited to its needs would by reason of what Hering terms 
**the internal self -regulation of metabolism" present a condition of 
chemico-physical metabolic equilibrium. The spontaneous vital phe- 
nomena would present a uniform succession of events. But any 
change in the environment would be followed by a change in the 
metabolism of the living substance, an adaptive adjustment of inter- 
nal conditions to external conditions. Life being manifested only by 
a constant change of matter, the first response would be to the 
presence of w^aste products of metabolism, which as soon as separ- 
ated from the living substance are foreign matter, inimical to the 
welfare of the organism. It, therefore, responds to their presence 
by excretory action. We may imagine that the matter next to that 
eliminated is now moved up to take its place and that a succession 
of such responses occurs throughout the series involved in the 
integrity of the living substance. At the beginning of the series 
there will be a demand for new material, which will be shown by 
the response of the organism to the presence of food. Thus the 
maintenance of the equilibrium of the matter and energy of living 
substance itself may be conceived as a series of responses to stimuli. 
But these we cannot segregate and study separately, as they are 
inseparably bound up with life, and remain or disappear with it. 

^Burton -Orpitz: Physiolog:y. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

CELL RESPONSE TO STIMULATION 

"Observation of changes in the activities of the organism in 
response to changes in the environing conditions, has already yielded 
to investigation much of value, and is pregnant with promise of 
much more. Davenport recognizes eight agents that act as stimuli 
on living organisms, viz: Chemical substances, v^ater, density of 
the environing medium, molar agents, gravity, electricity, light, 
heat. The effect of these, separate or combined, in modifying the 
course of spontaneous vital phenomena, constitute the field of 
cellular physiology and pathology. It v^ill be seen that this includes 
all physiological processes, v^hen we recall that the individual cell 
of the body may be conceived as existing in an environment con- 
sisting of neighboring cells (including the nerve filament that may 
supply it), water, chemical substances (in the blood and lymph), 
nutrient substances, waste products, heat, and, in some cases, light; 
and the resultant of the variously combined effect of these upon 
the differentiated and specialized forms of cell substance is seen 
in the different physiological functions. The action of these cells 
may be influenced by variations of the heat of the body, as in fevers 
and inflammation; by the presence of nutrient substances as in 
digestion and assimilation; by the presence of waste matters, as in 
excretion; by various manifold stimuli conveyed to them by the 
nerves ; and in a thousand complex forms many of which we cannot 
yet analyze. 

*'The nature of the response to stimuli is a property of the 
organism, not of the stimulus. The mechanism of the metabolic 
cycle precludes any effect of stimuli except in two directions, viz., 
excitation or depression. The successive changes have a specific 
order of sequence. Qualitative change in the cycle would mean 
death. Only quantitative change is possible. The multitude of 
cycles which we may imagine in progress at the same time in living 
substance, may be changed in their relations to each other. Some 
may be excited, some depressed and some stopped altogether. The 
infinite variety thus made possible justifies the supposition that 

171 



172 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

the protoplasm in any individual may never twice be the same in 
structure. Protoplasm, therefore, is not to be regarded as a chem- 
ical, but a morphological concept. 

'*'An important factor in the functioning of cells in a multicellular 
organism, is that the component cells, no matter how widely differ- 
entiated, morphologically and physiologically, have their limits of 
capacity for response approximately in the same plane; otherwise 
there would be no such thing as co-ordination of function. This 
plane varies as between different individuals and in the same indi- 
vidual at different times. These considerations explain the varying 
effect of drugs upon different persons, or upon the same person at 
different times, and it also explains why drug medication can never 
be reduced to an exact science. 

''We have seen that protoplasm is a 'highly irritable automatic- 
ally adjustable substance,' and that the cells in a human body re- 
spond to the stimuli of varying external conditions in an adaptive 
way, not only with reference to the cell itself, but also to that of 
the whole body, and we are now prepared to inquire into the abnor- 
mal conditions constituting disease. 

"Disease may consist in a disturbance of the metabolic cycle, 
as in the various degenerations, or it may be due to failure of the 
normal response. 

The statement may be ventured that all disease may be ascribed 
to a failure of protoplasm to respond: first to the stimulus of its 
own internal vital phenomena, resulting in an interruption of the 
metabolic cycle — disturbed nutrition ; and second, to the stimulus 
of abnormality in its environment — pathological products and bac- 
teria — resulting in neoplasms, autointoxications and infections ; and 
such failure to respond when continued can eventuate only in death. 

"Extraneous stimulation is not necessary; but if the capacity 
tor response still remains, we will have this condition : Pathologic 
substances, by their presence in the organism act as stimuli at two 
points ; first, at the point of initiation of the abnormal process there 
may be such reaction to their presence as tends to restore normal 
metabolic conditions by overcoming the cause of stoppage or irri- 
tation, as in 'self -limited' diesases; second, the mechanism of elim- 
ination reacts to their presence by increased excretory processes 
to get rid of the products of stoppage or irritation. If the condi- 
tions are right these reactions take place if need be to the full limit 



CELL RESPONSE TO STIMULATION 173 

of the reacting power of the cells exhibiting them. In other words, 
the cure of disease requires the presence of no other stimulus than 
that of its own products. The application of any extraneous stimulus 
in the form of drugs, electricity, heat, water, what not— with the 
idea of revitalizing or reforming in any direct way, the metabolic 
cycle, is not only futile, but wholly superfluous, and 'adding insult 
to injury. ' Nature neither needs nor can use any assistance in her 
work. What nature does need and what we may do is to maintain 
suitable external conditions. Therapeutics then has only to do with 
the elements of the environment in which nature works. In this 
sense antidotes to poisons are necessary; heat may be applied to 
chilled tissues, and water may serve as a food element, or for 
cleansing, externally and internally. 

'*If living substance responds to abnormalities in such a way 
as to bring about their correction, disease ought always to be cured 
spontaneously; indeed, it ought to be wholly prevented. That it 
does so respond is seen in the constant elimination of waste pro- 
ducts of metabolism ; and that there is sometimes a failure in spon- 
taneous removal of abnormalities may be due to one or both of 
two conditions; to exhaustion of the power of response, or to inter- 
ference with its manifestation. The first is illustrated systemically 
in the effects of starvation, overwork, excessive use of drugs, alcohol, 
etc. The second is the basis of osteopathic practice and requires 
some examination of the mechanics of vital processes. 

''The relations of the metabolic cycle to the conditions of its 
expression are very aptly illustrated by Davenport, who compares 
the protoplasmic mass to a factory, with many boilers and engines, 
much shafting and belting, and countless machines doing the most 
varied work. The amount of energy developed in the boilers and 
the efficiency of the engines and machines varies with certain con- 
ditions, such as the amount of heat applied to the former, and the 
friction and waste in the latter. The limiting mechanical condi- 
tions are reached when the boiler is rent by the steam pressure, 
a breakdown is caused by friction or a part rusts through and 
crumbles away. The limiting dynamical conditions are reached 
when the heat no longer suffices to force steam in the boiler, or the 
power is insufficient to run the machine. In either case at the 
structural or the dynamical limit, work ceases. In protoplasm the 
structural limiting conditions are of two main sorts — mechanical, 



174 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

in which the gross structure becomes broken down, as in drying or 
freezing; and chemical, in which the composition becomes changed 
as in the effect of poisons, high temperature, strong electric current, 
etc. The dynamical limiting conditions are the absence of oxygen 
or other food stuffs, the absence of water necessary to the solution 
and circulation of the food, and too low a temperature. "Thus 
the conditions essential to metabolism are the absence of causes 
mechanically rupturing the machine, the absence of agents of such 
intense activity as to change profoundly its molecular constitution, 
and the presence of those agents — food, heat, light and water — 
which supply or distribute the energy of metabolism. Given proto- 
plasm under these conditions, and normal metabolism must occur; 
without them there is no metabolism.' Surely if such a figure cor- 
rectly illustrates the conditions in a bit of apparently homogeneous 
jelly-like protoplasm, it is not inappropriate when applied to so 
complex a structure as the human body! 

' ' Physical conditions are our only field of intervention. We have 
seen that equilibrium in the ingestion and output of substances — 
normal continuity of the metabolic cycle — by the cell is the essential 
internal condition of the integrity of the vital processes. This equi- 
librium is always maintained by reaction of the cell to changes in 
its environment to the full limit of its reacting power. In order 
that this power of reaction shall be normally expressed, it is neces- 
sary that the physical conditions of the cell substance shall be nor- 
mal. We are barred from any direct participation in the vital 
processes so far considered. We cannot interpose upon the organism 
an exercise or condition not required by the laws of its economy. 
Our field of intervention must lie in the physical relations existing 
in the organism. Let us examine these conditions. 

"The size of the cell is one of these conditions. By the operation 
of certain mathematical laws of growth concerning the relation of 
surface to mass, the single cell is kept very small, so that a close 
relation between the cell and the surrounding medium is possible, 
in plants where air is the medium, exposure is secured by extensive 
external branching. In animals where the medium is liquid, expos- 
ure is secured by extensive circulatory channels. Its bearing on the 
mechanics of nutrition is the only reason for referring to this. 

"Another condition is the movement of protoplasm within the 
cell, a characteristic clearly shown in low forms of life, in which 



CELL RESPONSE TO STIMULATION 175 

constant currents in the cell substance are found. In the hair-like 
pseudopodia, which many of these organisms throw out, outflowing 
and return currents are to be seen. Even when these pseudopodia 
themselves are so slender as to be almost to the limit of visibility 
under the microscope, these currents have still been demonstrated. 
Similar movements in cell substance either en masse or of a fluid 
portion through the interstices of a recticulum occur in the human 
body in the cells of glands, epithelium, muscles, nerves, in the blood, 
and possibly others. These movements aside from their specific 
relation to the special function of the cell, are necessary to the 
ingestion of nutrient material, the exchange of material between 
different parts of the cell, and the egestion of waste products. 

''Perhaps the most important physical property of the cell is 
that of contractility, a property that is characteristic of protoplasm, 
and although the complex requirements of such an organism as the 
human body have resulted in highly specialized cells for certain 
properties, yet these cells have lost none of the fundamental prop- 
erties of protoplasm. For instance, muscle cells, differentiated for 
contraction, still exhibit irritability and secretion. Gland cells 
differentiated for secretion are still irritable and contractile. Nerve 
cells differentiated for irritability still secrete as required by their 
own metabolism, and retain contractility as shown in the contraction 
and ameboid movements of ganglion cells in the lengthening and 
shortening of their dendrites. . . . The conclusion is forced upon 
us that the conditions of mechanical stress in the cell structure and 
in the tissues, varying in degree and in time, the result of chemical, 
thermal or other stimuli, acting either directly or as mediated by 
disturbed nerve mechanisms, are important factors in the problem 
of the causation of disease. 

'Somewhat dift'erent in character and scope, but yet intimately 
related to cell-activities, is the effect of nerve stimuli. In all the 
higher vertebrates and especially in man the predominating influence 
of the nerve is almost absolute. So dependent are the other tissue 
cells upon this form of stimulus that in its absence spontaneous 
action is lost or sinks to the lowest point. A normal skeletal mus- 
cle never contracts except it is stimulated, and if its nerve supply is 
wholly lost, its metabolism sinks to so low an ebb that it degenerates 
by atrophy. Gland cells are another example of this dependence, 
and even in the nervous system itself there is often an interdepend- 



176 PRINCIPLES OF OSTEOPATHY 

ence between ganglion cells. . . . The direct effect of nerve 
stimuli upon processes of metabolism; upon the processes of secre- 
tion and excretion, as in gland cells, and in the regulation of the 
conditions of stress — tone — in all contractile tissue, both intra- and 
extra-cellular, show the importance of the part they play in co- 
ordinating the innumerable activities in so complex an organism 
as the human body. The contractility of dendrites is an important 
point, considered in connection with the statement that the relation 
between the dendrites of one nerve and the axone of another is 
that of contiguity but not continuity, as it explains how nerve cur- 
rents may be switched."^ 

The function of the nervous system is to unify diverse structures, 
— in normal and abnormal conditions; in time, and in inheritance. 
During normal activity of normal brains, this important part of 
the nervous system unifies individuals and races in their civilized 
activities. 

The osteopathic view of the cell, whether as a unit or as one 
of the millions making up the human body, is largely covered by 
the following statements: — 

Normal structure is essential to normal function. 

Normal function is essential if normal structure is to be main- 
tained. 

Normal environment is essential to normal function and struc- 
ture, though some degree of adaptation is possible for a time, even 
under abnormal conditions. 

In the human body, with its diversified functions, we may add 
also, — 

The blood preserves and defends the cells of the body. 

The nervous system unifies the body in its activities. 

Disease symptoms are due either to failure of the organism to 
meet adverse circumstances efficiently, or to structural abnormali- 
ties. 

Rational methods of treatment are based upon an attempt to 
provide normal nutrition, innervation and drainage to all tissues 
of the body, and these depend chiefly upon the maintenance of 
normal structural relations. 



iHulett, C. M. T., loc. cit. 



Authorities Consulted 



(References to other authors in general index) 



A. T. STILL EESEARCH INSTITUTE, Bulletins and Reports. 

ATZEN, C, B., D. O., ref. 22. 

BOOTH, E. R., D. O., History of Osteopathy; various papers. 

BURTON-OPITZ, R., Physiology. 

DAVENPORT, ref. 173. 

DEASON, J., D. O., Physiology; various papers. 

HEAD, ref. 120. 

HULETT, C. M. T., D. O., ref. 54; 166 et seq. 

KARSNER AND ECKER, ref. 103. 

MAC CALLUM, W. G., Pathology. 

MACLEOD, J. J. R., Physiology and Bichemistry. 

M'CONNELL, C. P., D. 0., Practice of Osteopathy; Clinical Osteopathy; 
various papers. 

MILLARD, F. P., D. O., Lymphatics. 

SCUDDER, ref. 82. 

SLOSSON, JANE, D. O., ref. 62. 

SPENCER, HERBERT, Principles of Biology. 

SPRING, C. F., D. O., The Cell, ref. 167 et seq. 

STARLING, E. H., Physiology. 

STILL, A. T., Autobiography; Philosophy of Osteopathy; Philosophy and 
Mechanical Principles of Osteopathy; Research and Practice. 

TASKER, D. L., D. 0., Principles of Osteopathy; various papers. 

WELLS, Chemical Pathology. 

WHITING, C. A., ref. 95. 

WILSON, The Cell in Development and Inheritance. 

177 



Index 



Abbott - 102 

Abnormal Structure 70 

Abuse cause of disease 

74, 92 et seq. 165 

in intensity 93 

in time 92 

of function 92 et seq. 

Adaptation 68, 75, 88 

Adhesions 84 

Adjustive mechanics 41 

Adjustment 88 

constant '. 24 

in disease 61 

in health 60 

in starvation 62 

in structural relations 63 

mechanical 41 

methods of 133 

of muscular lesions 136 

of osseous lesions 133 et seq. 

Amplitude of muscular action 124 

Anabolism 169 

Ancient practices 14 

Anorexia -- - - 108 

Antibodies 105 

Antitoxins — 105 

Approximation, in relaxation.-. 140 

Art of Osteopathy 12 

Attitude, in lesions 116 

Atwater 57 

Auscultation 113 

Bacteria, constitutional effects 99 

local effects 99 

not sole cause of disease 102 

pathogenic 98 

protection against 104 

saprophytic 98 

Balance of energy 49 

Bichat 17 

Body as chemical laboratory 

38, 44 et seq. 

as machine 37 et seq. 

energy of 43 

fuel of 52 

unity of 29 

Borelli 16 

Causes of disease 33 et seq., 95 et seq. 

of lesions 78 

Cell doctrine 26, 33 

life 166 

response 171 

Cells of multicellular organisms 169 



Change, constant in life 24 

Chemical action in body 38, 44 

Church 70 

Circulation 35 

Classes of lesion 77 

Colleges, osteopathic 6 

Color, in lesioned areas 125 

Connective tissue lesions 142 

Contractions 123 et seq. 

Contracture 123 

Corrective treatments 130 

Definitions 22 

Descartes 16 

Diagnosis, instruments in 114 

of disease 107 et seq. 

of lesions 115 et seq. 

Diarrhea, a useful svmptom 108 

Diet -- 52, 56 

Dietetic habits 58 

direct control... 153 et seq. 

Disease, adjustment in 61 

cause of 33, 95 

caused by abuse 74, 93 

caused by environment 74 

caused by germs... 98 et seq. 

caused by lesions... 86 et seq. 

diagnosis of 107 et seq. 

etiology of — 70 et seq. 

maintained by structure 74 et seq. 

not due to bacteria alone. 102 

predisposing and exciting causes.. 95 

structural causes of 35 

symptoms of 107 et seq. 

treatment of 164 

Drugs - 1^ 

Effects of lesions 88 et seq., 116, 123 

Electricity 48 

Energetics of cell 169 

Energy, balance 49 

nature of - 43 

of body 43 et seq. 

Environment, cause of disease 74 

Etiology of disease 70 et seq. 

Evolution and revolution _ 14 

Exaggeration of lesions - 133 

Exciting causes of disease 95 

Fever, a useful symptom 107 

Frequency of treating 146 

Friction ,. 46 

Fuel of body ..• 52 

Function, abuse of... ....92 et seq. 



178 



INDEX 



179 



Function and structure 25 et seq. 

Functions, perverted, in lesions 116 

Galen 15 

Galvani 17 

Germ theory of disease 17, 98 et seq. 

Glisson 17 

Glycosuria 1 09 

Goltz 155 

Gravitation 45 

Gross lesions 70 

Habits, dietetic 58 

Hahneman 18 

Haller 17 

Harvey 16 

Health, adjustment in 60 

Heat 46 

Hebrews, in sanitation 14 

Hemoglobin 40 

Heredity 66 

Hilton 18, 121 

Hippocrates 14 

History of Medical Practice— .14 et seq. 

Hypersensitive areas 122 

latro-chemieal school 16, 17 

Idiosyncrasy 57 

Immunity 100 et seq. 

acquired 101 

individual 101 

inherited 101 

passive 101 

racial 100 

species 100 

structural 1 00 

varieties of 100 

Inflammation a useful symptom 

105, 110 

Inhibition and stimulation 

150, et seq. 161 

Instruments for diagnosis 114 

Internal causes of lesions 80 

Iron in body 40 

Irritability of tissues 90 

Katabolism 169 

Klebs 18 

Koch 18 

Krukenburg 18 

Ladd 20 

Landmarks, use of 117 

Length of treatments 147 

Lesion 70, 77 et seq. 

adjustment of 133 

attitude in 116 

cause of disease 86 et seq. 

cause of pain 119 et seq. 

causes of 78 et seq. 

classified 77 

connective tissue 142 

diagnosis of 115 et seq. 

fiffects of 88 et seq. 



exaggeration of 133 

examination of 115 

in prophylaxis 129 

maintenance of 82 et seq. 

mechanical origin of 79 

muscular changes 123 et seq. 

pathology of 83 

reflex effects of 90 

sensory perversions in 117 

symptoms of 89 

thermal origins of 79 

Life, nature of 23 

Light 47 

Ling 18 

Lusk 57 

Machine, living 37, 60 

Maintenance of lesion 82 et seq. 

Marey 16, 25 

Materialism 23 

Mechanical causes of lesions 79 

Mechanics, nature of body 37 et seq. 

principles in body 37, 60 

Medical practice, history of... .14 et seq. 

Metabolism 34, 54 

Mensuration 113 

Methods 148 

of adjustments 133 

of examination 112 et seq. 

of relaxation 138 

of treating 148 

Middle Ages 16 

Modern times 17 

Molecular relations 45 

Multicellular organism, cells of 169 

Muscle, rigor of 124 

Muscular changes in lesioned areas.... 

123 et seq. 

Muscular lesions, adjustment of 136 

Nancrede 71, 102 

Nerve energy 49 

structures 153 

Normal, defined 65 

tendency to 65 

Objective symptoms Ill 

Opsonins 104 

Osseous lesions, adjustment of 133 

Osteopathy and cell life 166 et seq. 

art of 12 

basis of 11 

definitions 20 et seq. 

philosophy of 13 

science of 12 

vs. other systems 150 

Osteopathic Colleges 6 

Pain, anatomical relations of 120 

central origin 121 

in lesioned areas 118 et seq. 

referred 119 



180 



INDEX 



Palatability 57 

Palliative treatment 130, 131 

Palpation 112 

Paracelsus IC 

Park 18 

Pasteur 18 

Pathogenesis of lesion 86 

Pathogenic organisms 98 

Pathology of lesion 83 

Percussion 113 

Perversions in function 94, 116 

Pfluger 54 

Phagocytosis 104 

Philosophy of Osteopathy 13 

Photic energy 47 

Physical state of organisms 174 

Predisposing causes of disease 95 

Pressure, in adjustment— 134 

in pathogenesis of lesion 86 

in relaxation 139 

Priestly 17 

Prophylaxis 127, 129 

Protection against bacteria.... 104 et seq. 

Proteid requirements 57 

Proteids - 53 

Protoplasm _...23, 166 

Ptomaines 99 

Recovery 75 

Referred pain 119 

Reflex effects of lesions 90 

Relaxation 136 

Reserves 55 

Respiratory increase, a useful 

symptom 109 

Revolution, the 20 et seq. 

Rigor, muscular 124 

Rotation, in adjustment 134 

Sanitation, Hebrews' 14 

Saprophytic organisms 98 

Science of osteopathy 12 

Scudder 82 

Selective action 55 

Self-regulation 74 

Self-sufficient machine 60 et seq. 

Sensory perversions in lesioned areas 

117 

Similars, law of 18 

Specialization, need of 30 

Spencer, Herbert 24 

Starvation, adjustment in 62 

Stimulation 157, 171 



Stimulation and inhibition 

150 et seq., 161 

Stimuli 34, 171 

Stretching of muscles 139 

Structural causes of disease 35 

relations, self-adjustment of 63 

Structure, abnormal 35, 70 

and function 25 et seq. 

maintaining disease 74 et seq. 

Strumpell 71 

Subjective symptoms 11] 

Sylvius - 17 

Symptoms, anorexia 108 

diarrhea 108 

fever 107 

glycosuria 109 

inflammation 110 

objective Ill 

of disease 107 

of lesions — - 89 

respiratory increase 109 

subjective ...Ill 

vomiting J.08 

Sydenham 17 

Syncytium 30 

Table, energy balance 49 

Temperature change, in lesions 125 

Tendency to normal , 65 

Tender areas - 122 

Therapeutics - 127 

Thermal causes of lesions - 79 

Time of treating 144 et seq. 

Toxemia ..- 33 

Treatment, corrective vs. palliative..l30 

frequencv of 146 

length of ] 47 

of disease 127 et seq., 164 

of disease caused by abuse..l64 et seq. 

of other lesions 142 et seq. 

palliative - - 130 

time required 144 

Tumors 142 

Unity of body 29 

Use and abuse of direct control 

- 157 et seq. 

Van Helmont 16 

Variations - 67 

Verworn - 33 

Virchow 18, 71 

Vomiting, a useful svmptom 108 

Water .....". 53 






174 






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JUL' 83: 

ST. AUGUSTINE • 
FLA. 









